Norfolk & Suffolk Foundation Trust (NSFT) Recovery College

Recovery College provides educational workshops and courses. All our courses have been designed to support people experiencing mental health challenges to learn skills and strategies.

Recovery is learning to live a meaningful life beyond illness either with, or without, ongoing symptoms. It is a journey of personal development and discovery that focuses on your wellbeing

On this page you will be able to browse our courses, register as a new student and sign up for courses. You can also learn more about Recovery College and how it works as well as how the Framework and Principles of Recovery can help you.

Attendance at Recovery College is not put on clinical records and all the courses are free. There are lots of opportunities to take part so you can do as much or as little as you want.

You can do all this in a relaxed and informal environment with no tests.

Due to Coronavirus, all course are held online by Zoom or Webinar and we have more information about that below.

About Us

Recovery Colleges provide free educational workshops and courses. They are designed to support people experiencing mental health challenges to invest in their own wellbeing and recovery.

All the courses follow a personal recovery approach which encourages:

• Self-knowledge and acceptance
• An understanding of the principles of recovery
• Learning and applying new skills and strategies
• Leading a meaningful life with or without symptoms

The aim is to empower people to take control of their own lives and become experts in their own recovery.

People attending Recovery College are students, not patients or service users.

Students are not referred to Recovery Colleges. Students choose whether they want to attend or not, and which courses they want to do.

Recovery College is not a replacement for clinical support. It works alongside it.

Courses can be about lots of topics. From learning practical skills to better understanding yourself and the challenges you face.

It is a safe space to learn among other people who have experienced mental health challenges.

The courses have been categorised to help guide students:

• Begin – to understand yourself
• Build – a toolkit of self-help skills
• Understand – aspects of the challenges you may be facing
• Grow – a plan for your future

All the courses are centred on the principles of CHIME – Connection, Hope, Identity, Meaning and Empowerment.

History of Recovery College

Recovery Colleges originated in America throughout the 1990s as Recovery Education Centres.

The first Recovery College in England was set up in London in 2009 and there are now more than 80 in the UK and colleges in more than 20 countries.  From starting small, they have grown to offer a huge number and range of courses.

Recovery Colleges take many different forms. Some are set up by the NHS, some by the third sector and some are independent. They are all funded differently however they all aim to be community facing.

Who can sign up for courses depends on the individual Recovery College. Some are open to everybody in the community and some have criteria restricted to people in secondary mental health services.

Recovery Colleges are based on the Adult Education model, which differs from a clinical approach or therapy. Personal recovery approach recognises that symptoms may not always go away and focuses on living a meaningful life despite the challenges that people may experience.

NSFT’s Recovery College was set up in October 2013, with a handful of staff delivering a small selection of courses. Since then, we have expanded to offer an annual prospectus containing 40 courses. This continues to grow and evolve in response to the needs of the students.

Email:
RecoveryOnline@nsft.nhs.uk

Bury St Edmunds
01284 733110

Ipswich
01449 745297

King’s Lynn
01553 736018

Norwich
01603 421169