An Introduction to RCCS

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The Recovery-Centered Clinical System (RCCS) is a comprehensive wellness and resilience approach to recovery. The RCCS is based on two distinct, complementary components that address the goals of recovery for everyone involved.

1. Program Culture

Providing an environment for recovery to thrive is the primary intervention of the RCCS. By being aware of the effect our interpersonal actions have on one another, we create environments where people can come alive and take ownership of the recovery process for themselves. 

  • Power: To promote a healthy program culture, the RCCS explores how power dynamics play into the relationships at our programs, staff with clients and staff with staff. 
  • Judgment: By encouraging an environment of non-judgment, we are able to reverse the impact of the dominant culture and encourage the individuals served to understand and rely on their own beliefs and opinions.
  • Individual Uniqueness: When we value and seek unique characteristics of others, we are better able to understand and feel a genuine connection with them. 
  • Respect: Treating a person with dignity and respect creates a fundamental starting point for the recovery journey.
  • Motivation: It is important to consider the location of motivation: is it internal, within the person, or external, located in the environment? Traditional treatment systems rely on rewards or punishment to motivate individuals, but what happens when the external source goes away? Unique and meaningful hopes and dreams creates an internal motivation.

2. The Conversations

Guided conversations awaken an inner conversation within the individual served. Staff take abstract concepts such as hope and identity and make them tangible and actionable, helping people to see themselves in new and expanded ways that can redefine where they want to go in life and the choices they make to get there. The RCCS teaches very specific skills for guided conversations based on feedback from individuals with the lived experience of being a consumer in the mental health system.

There are five areas of conversations RCCS focuses on:

  • Exploring Identity: Living in a culture of power dominance and stigma toward mental illness can damage a person's sense of identity. By assisting someone in exploring their own identity, they can reverse the impact of a viscous cycle.
  • Awakening Hope: Developing hopes and dreams creates a strong emotional connection to the future. Awakening hope inspires strength to make choices for that future rather than to ease the discomfort of today.
  • Making Choices: Making effective choices leads to self-responsibility and to self-determination. Learning the skills of effective choice-making helps individuals move closer toward their hopes and dreams and away from harm.
  • Reducing Harm: A key component to staying on track on the recovery journey is avoiding obstacles and reducing harm. By having conversations of reducing harm, we help individuals find their unique strengths and identify personal risk areas.
  • Making Connections: Developing meaningful social connections is imperative to moving forward on a recovery journey. No man (or woman) is an island. Conversations help reconnect individuals to families, loved ones, their spirituality, or other meaningful ways.