The Recovery Tree is a visual tool to help a person map out a route to mental wellbeing.
There are many versions of the recovery tree online. The one I’m going to show you here is from MHFA England and is used on some of their youth mental health training courses.
I really love this tool and think it’s suitable for anyone of any age. But as I always say, what is really helpful to one person, might be less so for someone else. It’s about finding the right thing for the right person at the right time that helps them move forward.
You can use it as a tool to support recovery, but I find it’s also really great for just building confidence.
How does it work?
You can do this as a creative activity with the person you’re supporting. Draw it out with them and maybe cut out the leaves (goals) and stick them on. Make it really specific to the individual and add the different qualities to the branches and roots that are unique to them.
The roots are the permanent things about that person, who they are. This could be their race, ethnicity, culture, favourite food, football team, music they like, where they live, their community. What makes them them? Their identity.
We can think of Mental Health First Aid as the soil that will help the tree flourish.
The trunk is hope, and it’s strong. It has to be as hope is vital to recovery.
The branches are the gifts and skills that a young person has. These might be easy to list but some people might struggle to see their own strengths. You can help them pull out the things that they might not recognise within themselves as being important. Ask questions e.g. “What are you good at?” If they answer with “I don’t know” or “Nothing”, make your own observations. Show them what you see e.g. “Well, I see that if you think someone is being mistreated you stick up for them, that shows you have a strong sense of right and wrong, you’re passionate about the environment and that shows you care for more than just yourself” etc.
The leaves are the goals and dreams that person has. It could be the silliest thing they wanted to be when they were five, smart goals like being able to put their hand up in class, or go to college or uni, become a neurologist, learn a trade, be a scaffolder or start a business, anything at all.
A vision board for wellbeing
You can use it like a vision board to support confidence and wellbeing. If they have a private space, they can put it up somewhere in their room. If not, make it smaller, say A4 and then they can have it in a folder or book.
Everyday they can look at their recovery or confidence tree and say, “This is me, this is where I’m going and these are the things I have which will get me there.”
On days when it’s a struggle and they think they’ll never get out of this, the recovery or confidence tree is a nice visual reminder that,
I’ve got this, I can do this, and I’m going to make this day mine!
