Integrating evidence-based practices and the recovery model

Consumer advocacy has emerged as an important factor in mental health polic y during the past few decades. Winning consumer support for evidence-based practices requires recognition that consumers' desires and needs for variou s types of treatments and services differ significantly. The authors sugges t that the degree of support for evidence based practices by consumer advoc ates depends largely on the degree of disability of the persons for whom th ey are advocating. Advocates such as members of the National Alliance for t he Mentally, Ill, who focus on the needs of the most seriously disabled con sumers, are most likely, to be highly supportive of research that is ground ed in evidence based practices. On the other band, advocates who focus more on the needs of consumers who are further along their road to recovery, ar e more likely to be attracted to the recovery model. Garnering the support of this latter group entails ensuring that consumers, as they recover, are given increasing autonomy and greater input about the types of treatments a nd services they receive. The authors suggest way's to integrate evidence-b ased practices with the recovery, model and then suggest a hybrid theory th at maximizes the virtues and minimizes the weaknesses of each model.