Second Story Program

What Is Second Story?

We are a structured recovery program running Monday to Fridays for adults with a diagnosis of mental illness. We create a safe and supportive space where you can meet others, try out groups that will help rebuild your confidence, learn new skills and most importantly work on your RECOVERY PLAN. Our goal is to see you reconnect with the wider community and to support you to support yourself.

If you are ready to make a commitment to work towards creating positive change in your life, then Second Story is for you.

What It Means To Join

You will be matched with a key worker, who will:

· provide regular support in helping you determine what your plans for the future are

· help to create a Recovery Plan

· help you to work out how to turn your plans into actions

· support you through the difficulties of making real, lasting change

It is important that you meet with your key worker on a regular basis.

For more information about key workers click here.

What Is Offered?

The groups at Second Story offer opportunities to develop the following skills:

Living Skills
Social Skills
Prevocational Skills
Creative Expression
Personal Development

These groups run on a term basis, giving you the opportunity to try different groups throughout your time at Second Story. Each term we aim to incorporate participant suggestions and feedback into our timetable.

Your key worker will help you choose groups which reflect your plans for the future.

To view the current Second Story Timetable click here.

Who Can Be Involved?

People who:

Have a diagnosed mental illness
Are between the ages of 16 and 64
Live within the cities of Stonnington, Port Phillip and Glen Eira
Are ready to commit to a program of change and goal setting

How do I get involved?

If Second Story seems like the place for you, give Kath a call on 9692 9554 or email at kath@prahranmission.org.au to make a time to meet and go through the referral process.

What is Recovery?

Second Story works from a recovery framework. So what does recovery mean?

“Recovery is a process of healing physically and emotionally, of adjusting one’s attitudes, feelings, perceptions, beliefs, roles and goals in life. It is a painful process, yet often one of self discovery, self renewal, and transformation. Recovery is a deeply emotional process. Recovery involves creating a new personal vision for one’s self.”

LeRoy Spaniel, Cheryl Gagne, Martin Koehler 1997, Recovery from serious mental illness: What it is and how to assist people in their recovery.

How should we go about understanding recovery? This is a difficult question to answer. My own recovery began somewhere in the last ten years. In saying this, a number of concrete examples immediately spring to mind. Yet 'recovery' is hard to describe in just a few words. The dictionary defines ‘recovery’ as ‘cure’ but I disagree. ‘Cure’ sounds too passive, as if it's something a physician brings about, or you take pills for. No‑one can do your recovering for you, and there are no medicines which will do it for you. Recovery is something you have to do on your own. And it is a continuous process: it is not an end in itself, nor is there an absolute finishing point. Recovery is an attitude, a way in which you look at life and what happens to you (Patricia

Deegan, 1993).

Recovery does not mean that everything will turn out alright. Some things never will and you must learn to live with that. In the literature, these are called handicaps, but I prefer to call them vulnerabilities. If you can identify them you can make allowances for yourself. It saves you a lot of misery. And it saves your energy for what you can do. This will build your self‑confidence. This is what could be called the principle of increasing recovery (Henkelman, 1995).