The role of work in the recovery journey: Meaning, transformation, and inclusion.
Amy Beaudoin, Claire Kelly, Brieanna Soderquist and 3 others
Five people with serious mental illness described their work lives as a process of learning their own triggers, learning to ask for what they need, and finding purpose in helping others.
Peer support was the thread running through all of it.
Key findings
1All five participants described employment as a way of learning their own triggers, understanding what accommodations they needed, and recognising that managing their condition is ongoing rather than a one-time fix.
2Participants described advocacy — for themselves and for peers — as the natural next step after that self-awareness, and as a way to challenge workplace stigma and push for inclusion.
3Peer support was described by all five as the foundation that sustained the other processes, providing mutual understanding, a safe space to share, and a sense of belonging that professionals did not.
Still to come
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
Five participants, all aged 51 to 61, all in one Canadian city, four White and one from a visible minority group — the findings cannot be generalised to younger people, other conditions, or other employment contexts. Several participants were already in peer-support or mentorship roles, which the authors acknowledge may have shaped how they framed employment and its meaning for recovery. The authors did not collect detailed information about the specific mentor or mentee experiences that may have influenced participants' perspectives. Four different researchers conducted the interviews, and the authors note that differences in interviewing style and comfort may have affected the depth of responses. This is a qualitative account of how five people made sense of their work lives. It does not test whether employment improves recovery outcomes, and no comparison group or outcome measure was used.
Declared interests
No conflicts of interest declared. Funded by an internal grant from the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Alberta.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these five people's positive descriptions of work as evidence that employment improves recovery in serious mental illness. This is a qualitative account of how five individuals in one Canadian city, all aged 51 to 61, made sense of their work lives. Several were already in peer-support roles, which may have shaped how they framed employment, and the findings cannot be generalised to other ages, conditions, or employment contexts.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →