This guide is one of a series that EVE has developed for staff to help strengthen and continuously improve our ability to provide first-class, recovery-oriented community-based services. While traditionally the term 'recovery' has been used to mean ‘cure’ and becoming ‘symptom-free’, in more recent years a new understanding of recovery has been suggested by people with lived experience of mental health recovery. Service providers are now challenged to change from a model focused on treating symptoms to one that supports people in a far more holistic way, taking into account all aspects of a person’s life.

Adopting a recovery ethos for services, as recommended in A Vision for Change (2006), initiates a realignment of power and personal responsibility for members/participants. Service providers are required to carefully consider new ways of working to meet the changing nature of the relationship between staff and service users. Whilst welcomed in principle, in practice this has led to some confusion around what is now expected of staff and requests were made for clarification on a range of practice issues that can arise when delivering recovery-oriented services.

This guide looks at the topic of effective relationships and describes the kinds of behaviours that are acceptable and appropriate in our relationships with members/participants. As relationships work two ways, all issues addressed in the staff guides have been included in a members'/participants' handbook and also our induction process to ensure that EVE’s expectations of staff are clearly explained to each member/participant.