CHIME
What is CHIME and why are we using it as a framework for LERO Standards?
CHIME is simply a way to understand recovery and lays out 5 areas that have been observed to be significant in recovery journeys. We have based our standards on this model which was laid out by Mary Leamy, Victoria Bird, Clair Le Boutillier, Julie Williams, and Mike Slade in a review published in The British Journal of Psychiatry in 2011. Although this paper studied Mental Health Recovery, we believe that its’ finding are wholly relevant to LEROs in 2022. Conceptual framework for personal recovery in mentalhealth:systematic review and narrative synthesis Mary Leamy, * Victoria Bird, * Clair Le Boutillier, Julie Williams, and Mike Slade
What we find attractive about this model for LERO Standards is that no matter what influences a recovery journey, (e.g., treatment services, mutual aid, LEROs or Recovery Communities etc.) these 5 areas can be used to understand recovery as a multi-faceted process. LEROs across the country take different approaches and offer different types of support so the CHIME model is useful in providing us all with a common reference point. We set out the CHIME model below from the 2011 paper to give us all a common understanding of the 5 categories and what sort of activity relates to each of them. We have made some slight changes to make CHIME more compatible to LEROs. Our CLERO Connectors Group is also working with Professor Mike Slade, one of the originators of the CHIME Model. With all this expertise and experience we feel confident that these standards can make a real difference to how LEROs are thought of and how they develop.
This approach is not meant to “professionalise” or limit LEROs. It has been created to allow LEROs to be regarded as valuable and quality assured support organisations which have specialised knowledge, approaches and activities which are different from service provision but demand the same level of value attributed to them by local and national decision makers. LEROs can grow and develop in the directions and at the pace that suit them and their values; rather than dictated to by the academic or commissioning priorities that often dominate service development. LEROs have unique and specialised value (and values) and that must recognised, celebrated and maybe even protected. We believe these Standards will achieve all of these aims and encourage you to fin out more about how your organisation can benefit by adopting them.