Recovery Houses: a multi-stakeholder evaluation

The first recovery house experience in Italy took place in Faenza in 2013 due to the initiative of a family members association and the collaboration with expert recovery consultants. It was a four months residential experience in an old land house, where 12 clients were expected to live together, spending the majority of their time on house management and working intensively on their experience, on social relations and planning their recovery journey. 6 volunteers both professionals and non-professionals constituted the "recovery staff". Family members were very involved at the beginning but less at the end of the programme. Voice hearers group was available. There was only little integration with mental health services and reducing the use of medications was part of the programme. Since 2015 May, a second recovery house experience takes place in Trieste in the context of mental health services, in collaboration with IMHCN. It is a six-month residential programme, where 6 users are expected to live together, planning their recovery but continuing working or studying activities outside the house. Professionals referring to mental health centers take charge of the patient even if another team of professionals is fully dedicated to the recovery house. Voice hearers group is available. Reduce medication is not a persuaded goal of the programme. The house in collocated in an urban context. Family members participate through meeting and is involved in psico- educational training. Participatory observation and process evaluation was carried out as well outcomes evaluation (with assessment baseline, at the end of recovery house experience, every 6 months) was carried out by the national research council and is still ongoing. Parts of the results of the evaluation of both the experiences will be discussed.