Oxfordshire Recovery College

At Oxfordshire Recovery College (ORC) we believe that recovery can be achieved by learning new skills as well as by learning from each other. ORC offers an educational program of recovery-focused workshops and courses that have been co-produced.

All aspects of ORC, from the subject and content of courses, to the marketing and publicity, to the delivery of sessions, is co-produced and co-delivered by Experts of Experience (those who have lived experience of mental illness) and Experts by Training (professionals) that collaborate together in an equal partnership in order to improve the support and services that those affected by mental ill health need.

Restore are proudly leading on this project, which has been developed by the Oxfordshire Mental Health Partnership.

Our courses and workshops are free for individuals with lived experience accessing mental health services, their carers or family/friends and volunteers and staff of the Oxfordshire Mental Health Partnership. Since the College started in September 2015, we have enrolled over 2000 students and delivered over 900 courses across Oxfordshire.

We run courses all over Oxfordshire as well as online, delivering our sessions in Oxford, Banbury, Didcot, Witney and Berinsfield and Zoom (Online). We are hoping to add more locations within Oxfordshire very soon. Our main hub in Oxford is based at: The Straw Bale, Restore, Manzil Way, Oxford, OX4 1YH.

Our courses and workshops cover a wide variety of subjects, such as Understanding Depression, Introduction to Personality Disorders, Coping with Stress and Anxiety, Thinking about Thinking, Boosting Confidence, Creative Writing, Wellbeing at Work and many more. We have over 25 different courses on offer. A full list is available on ORC’s website. Courses are always evolving – please let us know if there is a course you would like ORC to be offering.

An educational approach

  • Helps people recognise and make use of their talents and resources
  • Assists people in exploring their possibilities and developing their skills
  • Supports people to achieve their ambitions
  • Students choose their own courses, work out ways of making sense of and finding meaning in what has happened.
  • Students become experts in managing their own lives (Recovery Colleges: Perkins, Repper, Rinaldi and Brown, 2012)

Visit ORC’s website to find out how to attend a course, or contribute to the design and delivery of ORC. If you’d like to enrol as a student with the College, please click here to sign up: https://oxfordshirerecoverycollege.org.uk/enrol-as-a-student/

We hope to see you at Oxfordshire Recovery College soon! Visit ORC’s website for more information.