Eating disorders can be understood as attempts to manage a problematic relationship with one’s own body. The objective of this qualitative study was to explore and discuss perspectives of embodying “experiences with nature” related to recovery in everyday life for persons experiencing eating disorders. The study was carried out in the context of a hermeneutic phenomenological approach. Eight participants with an interest in nature and friluftsliv (outdoor pursuits), and with experiences with bulimia nervosa and/or binge-eating disorders, were interviewed twice. Interviews took place in nature, in combination with a “going together” method. The results reveal how the participants highlighted experiences with nature as accentuating feelings of calmness and an engagement of the senses. Participants described nature as a non-judgmental environment that also provided room for self-care. This article explores the implications of everyday life perspectives on nature in recovery, as well as of an integrated focus on body and mind in experiences with eating disorders. The article concludes with an emphasis on how participant’s embodying experiences with nature enabled a (re)connection with one’s own body.

Recovery, a prominent concern in mental health care worldwide, has been variously defined, requiring further clarification of the term as processual. Few studies have comprehensively addressed the nature of recovery processes. This study aims to explore the nature and characteristics of experiences of recovery as processual. The method used is a form of qualitative meta-synthesis that integrates the findings from 28 qualitative studies published during the past 15 years by one research group. Three meta-themes were developed: (a) recovery processes as step-wise, cyclical, and continuous, (b) recovery as everyday experiences, and (c) recovery as relational. These themes describe how recovery is intertwined with the way life in general unfolds in terms of human relationships, learning, coping, and ordinary everyday living. This meta-synthesis consolidates an understanding of recovery as fundamental processes of living in terms of being, doing, and accessing. These processes are contextualized in relation to mental health and/or substance abuse problems and highlight the need for support to facilitate the person’s access to necessary personal, social, and material resources to live an ordinary life in recovery.

Recovery-oriented care has become a leading vision across countries. To develop services and communities in more recovery-oriented directions, enhanced understandings of recovery in terms of personal and social contexts are important prerequisites. The aim of this study is to explore the nature and characteristics of the experiences of recovery. The method used is a form of qualitative meta-synthesis that integrates the findings from multiple qualitative studies published by one research group. Twenty-eight empirical papers with a focus on recovery as personal and contextual experiences were included in this meta-synthesis. Five meta-themes were developed: (a) being normal, (b) respecting and accepting oneself, (c) being in control, (d) recovery as intentional, and (e) recovery as material and social. The themes describe how recovery encompasses dynamics between personal experiences and contextual dimensions. This meta-synthesis consolidated an understanding of recovery as dynamics of the self and others, and as dynamics of the self and material resources. This understanding of recovery suggests the need to work not only with the person, but also with families, networks, social systems, and local communities, thus developing mental health and substance abuse services in more collaborative, open-ended, and context-sensitive directions.

We are three researchers within the field of mental health. For the past 3 years, we have collaborated with colleagues in Greece on evaluating the pilot project Refugee Outreach Mental Health Team. Part of our role has been to evaluate how refugees and asylum seekers experience the treatment and support offered by the team. The findings from the evaluation have been presented in a published research report and we have thereby “completed our task.” However, following the completion of the formal obligations, we have continued to dwell on the less outspoken dialogues and inner voices. Not only those of the participants, but also the ones of the researchers that are present before, during and after research interviews. Inspired by relational autoethnography, we share some “other stories” about how the research processes touched us deeply and how it has left traces in our minds and bodies long after the project completion. We reflect on how relational processes of polyphonic meaning-making can be used to develop deeper insights and knowledge as well as a call for action. We suggest that the sharing of other stories can provide new knowledge and new understandings of how knowledge can be developed. Our hope is also that it may serve troubling or evocative purposes, and encourage the development of dialogues by invoking inner and outer voices. Perhaps, it may even call for solidarity in others and ourselves.

In recent decades, recovery-oriented practice has become the major approach in mental health and substance abuse care, especially in community mental health and substance abuse services. Various models of recovery-oriented practice have come to form the basis of the integration of this approach in service settings. The study aims to elucidate the characteristics of recovery-oriented practice as experienced by participants in the practice. The method used was a qualitative meta-synthesis that integrated the findings from thirty-four empirical papers published by one research group. Four meta-themes were developed: (a) helping and supporting, (b) collaborating and relating, (c) identity integration in practice, and (d) generating hope through nurturing and helping. These themes emphasize the value of relationships and connectedness, contextuality, and resources that can be mobilized in practice. The results emphasize the need to incorporate the elements in the four major themes as “working capital” for practitioners to realize recovery-oriented practice. The concepts of personal, social, and economic capital as working capital are elaborated, drawing from the meta-themes as the basis for recovery-oriented practice in mental health and substance abuse services.