Challenges in the implementation of recovery-oriented mental health policies and services

The development and implementation of recovery-oriented mental health policy and services is a current theme in the ongoing process of mental health reform in many countries. The authors describe the comparative policy work they have been doing over the last fifteen years, leading up to the current focus on the challenges encountered in the implementation of the latest vision of recovery. The challenges identified include definitional clarity, stigma, resources, policy and program implementation, professional and consumer differences, and political will. Experiences in two countries, England and Canada, are used to provide more detail about how these challenges unfold in the implementation of recovery-oriented reform.