The content of Recovery College courses in England: a 71 college document analysis

Simran Kaur Takhi; Holly Hunter Brown; Amy Ronaldson; Vanessa Lawrence; Merly McPhilbin; Benjamin Rose Ingall; Riddhi Daryanani; Jonathan Simpson; Tesnime Jebara; Simon Lawrence; Agnieszka Kapka; Yasuhiro Kotera; Danielle Dunnett; Daniel Hayes; Katy Stepanian; Caroline Fox Yeo; Sara Meddings; Jane Rennison; Katherine Barrett; Jason Grant Rowles; Yuki Miyamoto; Hans Kroon; Claire Henderson; Mike Slade

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1605498

The content of Recovery College courses in England: a 71 college document analysis

Front Psychiatry. 2025 Jun 17:16:1605498. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1605498. eCollection 2025.

Authors

Simran Kaur Takhi¹, Holly Hunter Brown², Amy Ronaldson², Vanessa Lawrence², Merly McPhilbin², Benjamin Rose Ingall², Riddhi Daryanani², Jonathan Simpson², Tesnime Jebara², Simon Lawrence², Agnieszka Kapka², Yasuhiro Kotera^{1

3}, Danielle Dunnett², Daniel Hayes⁴, Katy Stepanian², Caroline Fox Yeo⁵, Sara Meddings⁶, Jane Rennison⁶, Katherine Barrett⁷, Jason Grant Rowles⁷, Yuki Miyamoto⁸, Hans Kroon^{9

10}, Claire Henderson^#², Mike Slade^#^{1

11}

Affiliations

¹ School of Health Sciences, Institute of Mental Health, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom.
² Health Service and Population Research Department, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
³ Center for Infectious Disease Education and Research, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan.
⁴ Research Department of Behavioural Science and Health, Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
⁵ Buildings, Energy & Environment Research Group, Department of Architecture & Built Environment, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom.
⁶ Imroc Head Office, Nottingham, United Kingdom.
⁷ RECOLLECT Lived Experience Advisory Panel (LEAP), King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
⁸ Department of Psychiatric Nursing, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-Ku, Tokyo, Japan.
⁹ Tranzo Scientific Center for Care and Well-being, School of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Tilburg University, Tilburg, Netherlands.
¹⁰ Trimbos Institute, Netherlands Institute of Mental Health and Addiction, Utrecht, Netherlands.
¹¹ Faculty of Nursing and Health Sciences, Nord University, Bodø, Norway.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Introduction: Recovery Colleges (RCs) exist in 28 countries and across five continents. The concept of recovery and recovery-oriented care has become widespread internationally and embedded in policy documentation and mental health services. As a result, Recovery Colleges, which focus on adult learning and co-production, have now developed a global presence, but many psychiatrists are unfamiliar with this intervention. RCs can be categorized as 'Strengths Oriented', focusing on skills and knowledge development, or 'Community-oriented', emphasizing strengthening community and social connections. Research has not sufficiently investigated RC curriculum and how course provision differs depending on RC orientation. The study aimed to develop a typology of RC courses and assess differences in course types across RC orientations.

Method: A document analysis was conducted. The websites of 88 RCs in England were searched to collect online prospectuses. Overall, 2,330 courses described in 551 documents from 71 RCs were collated. Inductive content analysis was applied to the course titles to develop a typology of courses offered. Mann-Whitney U tests were used to assess differences in the median number of course types offered by Strengths-Oriented versus Community-Oriented colleges.

Results: A typology of 14 superordinate course categories was created. The three most common course categories were Self-management of Well-being (96% RCs ≥1 course, median 10 courses per RC), Mental Health Conditions and Symptoms (85% RCs ≥1 course, 4 courses per RC), and Creativity (86% RCs ≥1 course, 3 courses per RC). The least common course categories included Issues relating to the Extended Support Network and Issues relating to Staff (38% RCs ≥1 course, 0 courses per RC) (6% RCs ≥1 course, 0 courses per RC). The median number of courses did not differ between Strengths-oriented versus Community-oriented RCs, with the exception of more Practical Life Skills (p=0.021) and Involvement, Co-production and Research (p=0.036) courses in Strengths-oriented RCs.

Conclusions: RCs support mental health recovery through a diverse curriculum. Community-facing and strengths-based, health service-affiliated RCs offer similar courses. RCs prioritize equipping students with knowledge about living with mental health issues. Courses targeted to informal carers are lacking. Further cross-cultural extension of the typology is needed.

Keywords: Recovery college; course content; document analysis; fidelity measure; inductive content analysis.

Copyright © 2025 Takhi, Brown, Ronaldson, Lawrence, McPhilbin, Ingall, Daryanani, Simpson, Jebara, Lawrence, Kapka, Kotera, Dunnett, Hayes, Stepanian, Yeo, Meddings, Rennison, Barrett, Rowles, Miyamoto, Kroon, Henderson and Slade.