At the college, we offer hope for the future despite life’s challenges, opportunity, learning from other students' experiences, equipping students with the skills to make changes to support their wellbeing. The college is not somewhere to obtain qualifications but to learn self-management and personal development.
Recovery colleges offer educational courses about mental wellbeing supporting personal recovery. The ethos is to increase students’ knowledge and skills and help them take control by learning self-management strategies to help their mental health and wellbeing. The concept emerged by recognising people as being experts in their own care, and the belief that their views should be central to their recovery journey.
New Leaf Recovery and Wellbeing College is passionate about making sure students are placed at the centre of all we do. We build on people's strengths and support people to move from ‘patient’ to ‘student’ and sometimes ‘teacher’ within the college. We work together collaboratively at every level, assisting the individual in their personal recovery journey to share and empower others in their personal recovery.
The college offers hope, opportunities and the tools for students to self-manage and takes control. We offer students support, resources, and the time to reflect to discover how to manage their own well-being.
Our student development programme offers student the opportunity to take their learning further by becoming experts by experience within the college, taking part in a range of opportunities such as co-facilitation, co-production, classroom support and more.
The core principles of the College are:
- Partnership and co-production
- Educational - encouraging self-management
- Strengths-based and person-centred
- For everyone - people with health challenges, their relatives/carers, and staff
- Helps people identify and reach their own goals.
The aim of the college is to:
Foster hope, optimism and control, enabling people to strengthen and self-manage their mental health and recovery.
College Objectives are to:
- Co-produce of all aspects for the college
- Provide a safe place to learn new skills and expand on existing skills though a sense of connectiveness with others.
- Provide an environment that enables creative thinking of all.
- Maintain performance and quality by providing an ethos of reflection and ensuring learning for all.
The college is free to all Hertfordshire residents aged 18 and over.