Stakeholder views on a recovery-oriented psychiatric rehabilitation art therapy program in a rural Australian mental health service: a qualitative description

Background Recovery-oriented care is a guiding principle for mental health services in Australia, and internationally. Recovery-oriented psychiatric rehabilitation supports people experiencing mental illness to pursue a meaningful life. In Australia, people with unremitting mental illness and psychosocial disability are often detained for months or years in secure extended care facilities. Psychiatric services have struggled to provide rehabilitation options for residents of these facilities. Researchers have argued that art participation can support recovery in inpatient populations. This study addressed the research question: Is there a role for the creative arts in the delivery of recovery-oriented psychiatric rehabilitation for people with enduring mental illness and significant psychosocial disability detained in a secure extended care unit?