Beyond symptom reduction: Evaluating recovery and wellbeing outcomes in a recovery-oriented mental health service for young adults

ObjectiveTo evaluate changes in mental health symptoms, wellbeing, recovery, and emotion regulation among young people receiving care in a recovery-oriented inpatient unit and day programme.MethodsThis is a prospective observational longitudinal cohort study of young adults aged 16-25 years assessed at baseline, 3 months, and 6 months. Measures included the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 item version, Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, Interpersonal Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, Recovery Assessment Scale-20 item version, and WHO-5 Wellbeing Index. Lifestyle and psychosocial factors were assessed.ResultsSeventy participants were enrolled; 71.4% were female and 52.9% aged 17-19 years. Significant reductions in depressive symptoms were observed, with DASS-21 Depression scores decreasing from 26.3 at baseline to 20.5 at 6 months (p = .04). Emotion regulation difficulties improved significantly, with DERS-16 scores decreasing from 58.9 to 53.5 (p = .02). Recovery scores and wellbeing showed positive but non-significant trends. Positive changes were observed in outdoor activity, physical activity, diet quality, and perceived social support.ConclusionsThis study provides preliminary evidence that a tailored, recovery-oriented inpatient and day programme model is associated with reduced depressive symptoms and improved emotion regulation among young adults with mental health concerns. These findings support further evaluation of youth-specific, recovery-oriented mental health services.