Research Paper Capabilities for recovery-oriented practice in mental health occupational therapy: A thematic analysis of lived experience perspectives Karen Arblaster 1,2 , Lynette Mackenzie 1 , Katherine Gill 3 , Karen Willis 4 , Lynda Matthews 1 Abstract Introduction: Recovery in mental health is both a policy imperative and a contested concept with individual and systemic elements. Occupational therapy research and pre-registration education have not engaged in a substantial way with these ideas, raising questions about how well graduates are equipped for real world practice. We aimed to address this gap by developing lived experience informed recovery-oriented capabilities to inform occupational therapy practice and pre-registration curricula. Method: A participatory qualitative approach guided by a consumer reference group was adopted. In-depth interviews were conducted with 16 mental health consumers, wherever possible with a lived experience co-interviewer. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic analysis. Findings: Three core capabilities were developed: knowing, comprising five types of knowledge; doing, focused on three key areas of action in practice; and being/becoming, emphasising the lifelong learning journey of becoming a recovery-oriented practitioner who can ‘be’ in authentic partnerships with consumers to support recovery. Conclusion: These lived experience-informed capabilities offer new areas of focus for pre-registration education, practice and research. A need to engage with systemic factors, build students’ capacity for critical thinking about power and structural inequality, and integration of knowledge frameworks through participatory research is suggested. Keywords Recovery-oriented practice, thematic analysis, mental health, community-based participatory research, occupational ther- apy, education Received: 16 December 2018; accepted: 8 July 2019 Background This study aimed to inform recovery-oriented mental health curricula in occupational therapy by articulating core capabilities for recovery-oriented occupational therapy practice from the perspective of mental health consumers. It builds on the findings of a previous study that identified consumers’ priorities for mental health curricula in pre-registration occupational therapy pro- grammes (Arblaster et al., 2018). This information will assist occupational therapy educators to ensure curricula are designed to develop students’ capabilities for recovery-oriented practice. Recovery Recovery originated in the psychiatric survivor move- ment, which protested against harmful coercive treat- ment practices and focused on systemic causes of mental distress, adverse childhood experiences, and their cumulative and interactive lifetime effects on mental health (Harper and Speed, 2012; Rogers and Pilgrim, 2010). However, recovery as a concept has come to be defined by many authors as an individual process, for example by transformed personal identity, sense of wellbeing and self-determination (Deegan, 2002; Glover, 2005; Mancini et al., 2005). A more recent definition of recovery reflects elements of choice and wellbeing in life: ‘being able to create and live a mean- ingful and contributing life in a community of choice with or without the presence of mental [distress]’ 1 Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia 2 Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District, Sydney, Australia 3 Consumer Led Research Network, Sydney, Australia 4 Allied Health Research, Royal Melbourne Hospital, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia Corresponding author: Karen Arblaster, Faculty of Health Sciences, Cumberland Campus C42 University of Sydney, PO Box 170, Lidcombe, NSW 1825 Australia. Email: karblaster@uni.sydney.edu.au British Journal of Occupational Therapy 0(0) 1–10 ! The Author(s) 2019 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/0308022619866129 journals.sagepub.com/home/bjot