Characteristics of mental health service users attending Recovery Colleges in England: baseline findings from Recovery Colleges Characterisation and Testing (RECOLLECT)

TY - JOUR

T1 - Characteristics of mental health service users attending Recovery Colleges in England

T2 - baseline findings from Recovery Colleges Characterisation and Testing (RECOLLECT)

AU - Lawrence, Simon

AU - Ronaldson, Amy

AU - Allen, Thomas

AU - Mcphilbin, Merly

AU - Takhi, Simran K.

AU - Kapka, Agnieszka

AU - Simpson, Jonathan

AU - Daryanani, Riddhi

AU - Hayes, Daniel

AU - Jebara, Tesnime

AU - Dunnett, Danielle

AU - Namasaba, Mariam

AU - Kotera, Yasuhiro

AU - Skipper, Oliver

AU - Meddings, Sara

AU - Rennison, Jane

AU - Lawrence, Vanessa

AU - Bakolis, Ioannis

AU - Emsley, Richard

AU - Elliott, Rachel A.

AU - Stepanian, Katy

AU - Barrett, Katherine

AU - Elton, Daniel

AU - Henderson, Claire

AU - Slade, Mike

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s), 2026. Published by Cambridge University Press.

PY - 2026/3/5

Y1 - 2026/3/5

N2 - Aims and method Recovery Colleges are adult education initiatives supporting personal recovery for individuals with mental health difficulties. We characterised a national (England) inception cohort of mental health service users, students from the Recovery Colleges Characterisation and Testing 2 programme, and compared those attending different Recovery College types on sociodemographic, clinical, service use and student-reported outcomes over the 4 months prior to enrolment. Mixed-effects regression models were used to assess differences. Results The cohort comprised 498 students from 36 Recovery Colleges across England; 77.7% attended strengths-oriented Recovery Colleges. Mean age was 39 years (s.d. 12); most were female (72.1%) and White (81.5%). Common diagnoses were mood (31.3%) and anxiety disorders (29.7%). No significant differences were found between students attending strengths- versus community-oriented Recovery Colleges. Clinical implications Strengths- and community-oriented Recovery Colleges have similar service user student populations. Certain groups that may be underrepresented in Recovery Colleges and Recovery College research include older adults, men, those with developmental disorders and ethnic minority populations.

AB - Aims and method Recovery Colleges are adult education initiatives supporting personal recovery for individuals with mental health difficulties. We characterised a national (England) inception cohort of mental health service users, students from the Recovery Colleges Characterisation and Testing 2 programme, and compared those attending different Recovery College types on sociodemographic, clinical, service use and student-reported outcomes over the 4 months prior to enrolment. Mixed-effects regression models were used to assess differences. Results The cohort comprised 498 students from 36 Recovery Colleges across England; 77.7% attended strengths-oriented Recovery Colleges. Mean age was 39 years (s.d. 12); most were female (72.1%) and White (81.5%). Common diagnoses were mood (31.3%) and anxiety disorders (29.7%). No significant differences were found between students attending strengths- versus community-oriented Recovery Colleges. Clinical implications Strengths- and community-oriented Recovery Colleges have similar service user student populations. Certain groups that may be underrepresented in Recovery Colleges and Recovery College research include older adults, men, those with developmental disorders and ethnic minority populations.

KW - mental health

KW - observational cohort

KW - RECOLLECT

KW - recovery

KW - Recovery College

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105032468859

U2 - 10.1192/bjb.2026.10220

DO - 10.1192/bjb.2026.10220

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:105032468859

SN - 2056-4694

JO - BJPsych Bulletin

JF - BJPsych Bulletin

ER -