‘Recovery Can Be Different for You and Me.’ This is a lyric line of a song we wrote specifically for Pitane Singers. To us, this is what Pitane Recovery Centre is all about. Pitane was a dream of many consumers in metropolitan Sydney for a totally consumer-run recovery centre to be established. In August 2003 this dream became our reality. We decided to call our recovery centre Pitane. This is an Aboriginal word meaning meeting place.

The Northern Beaches Mental Health Service Consumer Participation Service (CPS) was given access to space at Manly Hospital, to provide recovery activities for consumers on the Northern Beaches. CPS asked the Northern Beaches Mental Health Consumer Network to work in partnership and we all effectively went about creating a centre in which people feel comfortable, want to participate in, and one that assisted our own recovery journeys in the process.

Pitane Recovery Centre is the first consumer- run recovery centre in metropolitan Sydney for people with mental disorders. We offer a wide range of recovery activities for consumers to incorporate into their lifestyles. Most of the activities can be attended by any consumer, however there are some specific activities for certain age and gender groups.

Pitane’s Vision and Philosophy is:

* Hopes and Dreams Can Come True.

* To give options to empower consumers to live out their hopes and dreams on their own recovery journey!

*To connect consumers who access any section of the mental health services on the Northern Beaches.

* To bring consumers together regardless of age, lifestyle, disability and basic life’s philosophies.

*To create ownership of Pitane within individual members.

* Recognising and acknowledging each person has value and self-worth and is a person who can have hopes and dreams the same as anyone in the general community.

The principles of recovery which underpin Pitane are:

1. Recovery does not mean ‘cure’, there’s no magic wand.

2. Recovery is about having a quality of life and having full control of one’s life and living a life of one’s choosing.

3. Recovery is about action.

4. Empowering and encouraging the consumer to have a voice and make his/her own decisions.

5. Every person who comes to Pitane regardless of the role undertake, for example a facilitator, participant or general observer is equal.

6. Recovery is a journey one can undertake as part of one’s journey of life.

7. Recovery is also about expressing what the person would like to do and how they would like to go about this – rather than being ‘told’ to do this, that or the other or what they cannot do.

Pitane is NOT a Drop In Centre. It is only open for the specific recovery activity being undertaken at the specific time of the day or week. There is no counselling, care co-ordination, goal planning or any type of clinical service provided. This being because we are consumer run. We are not clinicians and we have found that consumers who attend Pitane prefer to focus on everyday normal activities rather than focus on their mental disorder.

Pitane Recovery Centre is an exciting, developing and empowering consumer-run initiative. As you can see we have many hopes and dreams, which are very exciting to look forward to for Pitane. We hope to ignite the passion for consumers to undertake their own journeys of recovery, journeys of discovery and journeys of hope. Pitane has more than realised the initial hopes and dreams we held for a consumer-run recovery centre and it’s still only the beginning of the journey. Recovery means action. Action means Pitane!

Recovery activities at Pitane:

Weekly Pop In, Weekly Consumers’ Training, Walking Troup, Movie Club, Women’s Discussion Group, Break Out – 18-30 years, Over 50 & Young At Heart, Recovery Corner Saturday Soapbox, Live Poets Society, Tipping the Scales Support Group, Cultured Pearls, Establishing Gentle Connections Weekly consumers’ meetings, Pitane Singers.

For more information, contact Desley Casey or Natalie Andrews on 02 9976 9602.