• Mental Health Conditions ++
  • ADHD
  • Alcohol Addiction
  • Anorexia Nervosa
  • Anxiety Disorders ++
    • Anxiety
    • Panic Disorder & Agoraphobia
    • Social Phobia & Social Anxiety
  • Aspergers
  • Autism
  • Bipolar Affective Disorder
  • Body Dysmorphic Disorder
  • Borderline Personality Disorder
  • Depressive Illnesses ++
    • Depression
    • Post Natal Depression
  • Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
  • Postnatal Psychosis
  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
  • Schizo-affective Disorder
  • Schizophrenia
  • Seasonal Affective Disorder
• Information and Resources ++
  • Articles and Developments
  • Support Telephone Numbers
  • Recommended Websites
  • Recommended Reading
• Advocacy Service
• WorkWise
• Peer Representatives
• Feedback & Consultation
• Wellbeing & Recovery Partnership
• North Dorset Day Services ++
  • Blandford Positive Approach Shop
  • Blandford Willow Tree Group
• Sherborne Centre for Wellbeing
• Sports Leisure Activity Programme
• Peer Support ++
  • About Peer Support
  • Bridport Peer Support
  • Dorchester Peer Support
• Peer Led Groups ++
  • Bridport Moving On
  • Weymouth Community Action Group
  • Weymouth Oaktree
• Reflections Magazine
• Contact Us

As a charity we are reliant on funding from external organisations and the generosity of the public.

If you wish to donate an amount, for example £10, you would text DMHF19 £10 to the number 70070 as shown below. We thank you for your kindness.

Wellbeing and Recovery Partnership (WaRP)

“[Recovery is] a deeply personal, unique process of changing one's attitudes, values, feelings, goals, skills and roles. It is a way of living a satisfying, hopeful and contributing life, even with the limitations caused by illness. Recovery involves the development of new meaning and purpose in one's life as one grows beyond the catastrophic effects of mental illness...”

The aim of the WaRP is to change the culture of mental health services and people's attitudes to mental health in Dorset through promoting the principles of wellbeing and the philosophy of recovery. Central to this is the partnership between people with lived experience, their supporters and mental health professionals.

The WaRP is a partnership between the Dorset Mental Health Forum (DMHF), NHS Dorset: Community Health Services (DCHS) and Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trust (DHUFT). The WaRP was initially established in 2009 in West Dorset between DCHS and the DMHF. The DHUFT formally joined the partnership in December 2010 and since then the WaRP has been working across the whole of Dorset.

We have been recognised nationally by: the Centre for Mental Health, the NHS Federation and the National Mental Health Development Unit's 'Implementing Recovery for Organisational Change' (ImROC) programme, who have granted us the status of being a national demonstration site.

Recovery Principles:

• Recovery is about building a meaningful and satisfying life, as defined by the person themselves, whether or not there are ongoing or recurring symptoms or problems
• Recovery represents a movement away from pathology, illness and symptoms to health, strengths and wellness
• Hope is central to recovery and can be enhanced by each person seeing how they can have more active control over their lives ('agency') and by seeing how others have found a way forward
• Self-management is encouraged and facilitated. The processes of self-management are similar, but what works may be very different for each individual. No 'one size fits all'
• The helping relationship between clinicians and patients moves away from being expert/patient to being 'coaches' or 'partners' on a journey of discovery. Clinicians are there to be 'on tap, not on top'
• People do not recover in isolation. Recovery is closely associated with social inclusion and being able to take on meaningful and satisfying social roles within local communities, rather than in segregated services
• Recovery is about discovering – or rediscovering – a sense of personal identity, separate from illness or disability
• The language used and the stories and meanings that are constructed have great significance as mediators of the recovery process. These shared meanings either support a sense of hope and possibility, or invite pessimism and chronicity
• The development of recovery–based services emphasises the personal qualities of staff as much as their formal qualifications. It seeks to cultivate their capacity for hope, creativity, care, compassion, realism and resilience
• Family and other supporters are often crucial to recovery and they should be included as partners wherever possible. However, peer support is central for many people in their recovery

Adapted from Recovery - Concepts and Application by Laurie Davidson, The Devon Recovery Group

The Dorset Mental Health Forum is not responsible for the contents or reliability of linked websites and does not necessarily endorse the views expressed within them. Listing shall not be taken as endorsement of any kind. We cannot guarantee that these links will work all of the time and we have no control over the availability of linked pages.