Recovery Camp : facilitating resilience and self-determination in people experiencing mental illness

![CDATA[Recreation has the ability to empower, heal and build up people from all ages, backgrounds and forms of disadvantage (Caldwell, 2001; Hildebrand, 2017; Iwasaki et al., 2014; Stumbo et al., 2015). This paper aims to discuss the Australian Therapeutic Recreation Intervention – ‘Recovery Camp’ and its developing evidence base in the mental health therapeutic recreation space, In particular, recreation’s role in facilitating self-determination and personal resilience. The individual personal growth witnessed through the week-long outdoor therapeutic recreation program aimed at supporting a consumer’s journey toward personal recovery is important and supported by research evidence. Therapeutic recreation camps, through their immersive and comfort-zone challenging elements, have been seen to benefit participants across multiple health and social areas of living (Alison, Negley, & Sibthorp, 2013; Békési et al., 2011; Hill & Sibthorp, 2006; Meier, 2012; Rawson & McIntosh, 1991). This paper will provide a brief introduction to mental health therapeutic recreation in Australia and discuss the theoretical framework of Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 1975) and Resilience (Rutter, 2000) that underpins Recovery Camp. Resilience is a term gaining increasing definition in health literature and can be understood as individual’s active defence mechanism in the face of challenge, which then enables them to thrive in the face of that adversity (Davydov, Stewart, Ritchie, & Chaudieu, 2010). The concept has emerging links with leisure research, in particular recreation participation and psychological well-being of elementary students (Byun & Roh, 2011), leisure as a stress survival strategy for diverse populations (Iwasaki, Mactavish, & MacKay, 2005) and leisure interests and participation assisting young people with visual impairment to thrive despite adversity (Jessup, Cornell, & Bundy, 2010), Self-Determination Theory (SDT) is a theory of human behaviour and motivation (Deci & Ryan, 2000), developed within the idea that successful behaviour change and durable motivation can be fostered from environments and interventions that nurture the individual and their internal psychological needs (Deci & Ryan, 2000; La Guardia, 2017; Ryan & Deci, 2000). SDT has been developing as an area of inquiry within the TR profession (Bell, 2010; Hill & Sibthorp, 2006). In its conceptual nature, participation in Recovery Camp has been shown to produce an array of benefits for participants in recreation activities (Moxham, Liersch-Sumskis, Taylor, Patterson, & Brighton, 2015). However, on deeper inquiry, it is becoming apparent that the same therapeutic recreation activities can assist in facilitating individual’s resilience to life’s stressors and to build an individual’s capacity to be self-determined. Readers will gain a thorough understanding of the concept of use of therapeutic recreation for the purposes of facilitating mental health recovery, and in particular, self-determination and resilience, in an outdoor leisure setting through, the flagship therapeutic recreation initiative Recovery Camp. Evidence suggests that purposefully designed outdoor leisure activities can have life-changing benefits for participants. In essence, adding to the idea that recreation is more than just a good time and that it can be used to educate, advance self and improve the mental health of all (Shen & Yarnal, 2010).]]