Personal recovery is a guiding principle in mental health and suggests that consumers own and are responsible for their own recovery. An exclusive focus on the recovery of those living with mental illness challenges the relevance of recovery concepts to families’ experiences. This paper extends these recovery principles to consider if the recovery framework is helpful in understanding families’ experiences. We distinguished the family's recovery task by recovery-oriented support and the family's own recovery journey. By applying recovery frameworks developed by Davidson et al. and Leamy et al. to these two tasks, we were able to highlight similarities and points of tension between consumer and family recovery tasks. The tasks for families include: (1) maintaining hope; (2) reconnecting; (3) overcoming secondary trauma; and (4) journeying from carer to family. Family response to mental illness is a dynamic, multilayered process rather than a static and enduring role of caregiving. The recovery framework offers an alternative way to understand a family's response to mental illness and suggests possibilities for social work practice with families.

Background: Constructs such as personal recovery, patient engagement and consumer involvement are central in mental health care delivery. These approaches emphasise the importance of empowerment and choice. Aims: Under some circumstances Involuntary Treatment Orders (ITO) allow a person to be treated for a mental illness without their consent. This study explores the tensions between the principles of empowerment and control and involuntary treatment. Methods: Twenty-five involuntary inpatients of a major teaching hospital were interviewed about their experiences of being placed under an ITO. The interviews were analysed thematically. Results: Being able to have some sense of agency and re-asserting personal control are critical components of an involuntary mental health admission. Participants wanted information about their treatment, the ITO process and their environment. They also spoke about the importance of a space where they felt safe from themselves and others to make sense of the experience. Conclusions: This study suggests that for coercive treatment to aid, rather than disrupt recovery, treatment services need to focus on: the provision of rights; the creation of a sense of safety; establishing supportive relationships; carrying hope and finding ways to foster a strong sense of agency and empowerment.