Tool developed by MHE member helps more organisations provide recovery-focused support

The Individual Recovery Outcomes Counter – known as I·ROC – was developed by Penumbra, a mental health charity in Scotland. Penumbra says I·ROC is a widely recognised and utilised recovery keyworking and assessment tool across Europe and further afield.

In May Penumbra’s I·ROC Well-Being trainers travelled to Brussels to deliver I·ROC training to fifteen mental health organisations based in Belgium.

John Deloof from the De MaRe Psychosocial Rehabilitation Center in Kortrijk co-ordinated the training. He said the organisations adopting I·ROC use an innovative psychosocial model which complements the tool.

De MaRe and the other services support people with psychosocial vulnerabilities. The main objective of the support they provide is the individual’s personal and social recovery. This psychosocial approach fits perfectly with I·ROC, which encourages a person to recognise their strengths, where they need support and how they can connect with resources to navigate towards recovery.

John said De MaRe chose to invest in I·ROC because they wanted to find out how their support positively affected Recovery. “We wanted to know if our interventions actually supported people as much as we claim to, so we decided to find a measurement tool and thus we found I·ROC.”

“We all were quickly convinced that I·ROC could help mapping the recovery process for our clients and could help us as a service to find out our strengths and opportunities. Besides this goal we also wanted to benchmark our different centres and learn more from each other. We chose I·ROC because of the possibility to use I·ROC in our daily work with people.

“I·ROC isn’t only a measurement tool; it also supports the dialogue between the professional and the person. It helps people to take control of their own process and it helps the professional to do what is needed, instead of what he or she thinks is best. I·ROC really helps to shift the balance in to a more equal position between professional and person using the service.”

John’s feedback resonates with the purpose and intention behind I·ROC. Through the training it offers, Penumbra aims to promote a recovery focused, person centred approach which ensures that both the person and the service achieve the best possible personal recovery outcomes.

For more information about I·ROC visit https://irocwellbeing.com/.