Our Principles of Recovery

The Windhorse approach is characterized by five principles of re­cov­ery:

1. Psychosis is a disruption in the bal­ance of body-mind-environment. Effective treatment must al­ways work with the whole person. All as­pects of the im­balance must be addressed- the bio­logical, psy­chological, so­cial, and spiritual.
2. Sanity is always present even within psy­chosis. Moments of insight, common sense, or com­pas­sion continually interrupt mental tur­bulence. These ex­peri­ences, however brief, are like awakening from a dream. They are “islands of clarity” that must be rec­ognized as the seeds of recovery. It is essential to train staff to notice and value these moments and to respect the person, even when his/her extreme mental state may frighten or in­conve­nience them.
3. Significant recovery is a real possibil­ity. Recovery is a natural process that can oc­cur gently in a sane, healthy environment and can be fostered through authentic rela­tion­ships. Grouping severely dis­turbed people in one place of treatment, such as a men­tal in­sti­tution, risks the health of both clients and staff and may actually prevent recovery. Recovery is facili­tated only when a genuine sense of friendship is fostered among caring people, both staff and clients.
4. Recovery requires community. A healing com­munity is one that pro­motes the well-be­ing of each of its members. The com­munity begins with the client’s own home, and in­cludes housemates, family, and friends. A therapeutic treatment team ex­tends this com­munity to the world at large.
5. Compassionate care can be taught. Windhorse has developed training techniques that cultivate empathy as a skill. Contemplative practices from many healing traditions can foster this skill. These are skills that deepen the quality of relationships, and these authentic therapeutic relationships are the foundation of the work together.  Using these tech­niques and practices in clini­cal work creates the buoyancy and pa­tience required to at­tend to someone on the ardu­ous journey of recovery.