Study title

This data set comprises of 12 transcribed interviews, which were conducted to gather the perspectives of mental health recovery college tutors and ‘learners’ regarding the collaborative development, delivery and impact of a ‘Building Resilience for Wellness and Recovery’ course in the South of England. Data was collected in 2015 as part of the social work package (WP1) of the Imagine Project South East. Tutors included mental health practitioners and also ‘peer tutors’. Peer tutors are people with lived experience of recovery from mental health problems who have received trainer in being a Recovery College tutor. Recovery Colleges use an educative approach to address mental health challenges. They aim to be open to adults with mental health problems, mental health practitioners, carers/family members and the general public. To date the large majority of people who are ‘learners’ on these courses are people with mental health problems.Our research looked at how communities connect people, both today and in the past. We found that these connections take many forms, but often include people coming together to seek change and pursue a different future. We were interested in the role imagination plays in how such futures are conceived and pursued. The history of people's involvement in community initiatives includes both successful innovation and frustration and disappointment, in the UK and elsewhere. Our project sought to learn from both scenarios. We studied community connections in different types of community (some present, some past). Using our new knowledge, together, we have begun to imagine how communities might be different and to experiment with different forms of community building. Communities are made up of people who share some things in common, but who also have differences. In the light of this, we posed four main questions: 1) What are the best ways of conceptualising, researching and promoting connected communities so that they have the potential...