The Recovery Camp Program in Tasmania – an experiential learning opportunity for students of health disciplines and mental health consumers

This project aimed to pilot an established program developed by the University of Wollongong (UOW) called the ‘Recovery Camp’ for the Tasmanian context. Recovery Camp brings together mental health consumers, health students from various disciplines and UTAS support multi day bush camp aimed at increasing support and understanding about mental illness, mental health careers and providing students interprofessional learning opportunities. The project also aimed to examine the potential for Recovery Camp to be incorporated into health curricula for students to access mental health placement hours. Recovery Camp was successfully piloted on April 22-24th 2016 involving 6 health students (nursing, social work, psychology, exercise physiotherapy); 9 community volunteers with a diagnosed mental health condition and 6 UTAS staff members. Recovery Camp was adapted to capitalise on resources available in the local context while still adhering to the underlying principles of the model. Recovery camp is being evaluated with a mixed methods design, adapted from the UoW evaluation framework. Early results and anectodal feedback suggests that the camp offered a beneficial learning experience for all participants. Final data collection will occur in late July 2016.

The potential for Recovery Camp as a mental health placement was examined across the disciplines of nursing, social work, psychology and exercise physiology. A case is being developed to propose integration of the camp into the Practical Experience Placements within the Bachelor of Nursing. This case will be formally presented in second semester 2016 when the analysis of evidence of the UTAS 2016 camp is finalised. Recovery Camp has the potential to address significant mental health placement shortages, offer students a unique, immersive learning experience and offer community volunteers a holistic, recovery based experience.