What does recovery actually mean, and who gets to define it?

In this first full episode of Lived Experience Lounge, we explore the history of the recovery movement and the tensions that sit beneath the word. From its roots in the survivor movement to its adoption within services, recovery has meant many different things to different people.

We reflect on clinical recovery, personal recovery, collective recovery, and whether the word still feels useful. We also share parts of our own journeys and how our understanding of recovery has shifted over time.

This is an open conversation about language, power, systems, identity, and what it means to reclaim autonomy in a world that often feels anything but safe.

We Discuss:

• The origins of the recovery movement
• Clinical recovery vs personal recovery
• “Recovery in the Bin” and critiques of the concept
• Reclamation, autonomy and collective wellbeing
• Resilience, endurance and political context
• The relationship between individual distress and social systems
• Whether we would return to who we were “before”
• Why recovery may be less about certainty and more about conversation

Lived Experience Lounge is an Imroc podcast hosted by Emma Watson, Danny Bowyer and Katie Mottram.

Imroc is a mental health charity based in England focused on transforming systems and communities by centring lived experience. Its work spans peer support, recovery colleges, research and evaluation, community development, and relational approaches to care.

To learn more, visit imroc.org or follow Imroc on LinkedIn.