The purpose of this study was to examine what techniques social workers use to integrate the recovery model into their clinical practice with clients with a severe mental illness. A study of 12 clinicians with experience working with the severely mentally ill population participated in this qualitative study.

Identifying all the components of the recovery model was the main challenge for clinicians. However, clinicians were very quick to identify common social work practices reporting using strengths based practices, hope, and empowerment as their foundation in their interventions. Successful outcomes using the recovery model varied for each clinician. Whereas, the challenges of using recovery had some similarities in their response.

These findings provide a starting point for clinicians who are working with the severely mentally ill population and are learning how to implement the recovery model into practice. It also provides awareness to the various measures of success and challenges.