PSS Recovery and Wellness Principles 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which of the following best describes the concept of 'recovery capital'?
- The amount of insurance coverage for mental health services
- The personal, social, and community resources that support recovery (Correct answer)
- The number of treatment episodes a person has completed
- The financial assistance available for substance use treatment
Correct answer: The personal, social, and community resources that support recovery
Recovery capital refers to the breadth and depth of internal and external resources a person can draw upon to initiate and sustain recovery.
Question 2: A peer specialist notices a person in recovery is isolating and withdrawing from support networks. This behavior most likely signals a threat to which wellness dimension?
- Physical wellness
- Social wellness (Correct answer)
- Occupational wellness
- Environmental wellness
Correct answer: Social wellness
Social wellness involves healthy relationships and connection with others, and isolation directly undermines this dimension.
Question 3: The Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP) was developed by which mental health advocate?
- William Anthony
- Mary Ellen Copeland (Correct answer)
- Patrick Corrigan
- Priscilla Ridgway
Correct answer: Mary Ellen Copeland
Mary Ellen Copeland developed WRAP in the late 1980s as a self-management and recovery tool based on her own experiences and those of other people with mental health challenges.
Question 4: When using a strengths-based approach, a peer specialist should focus primarily on:
- Identifying barriers that prevent progress toward goals
- Cataloging a person's diagnoses and treatment history
- Highlighting what is going right and what resources the person already has (Correct answer)
- Developing a list of risks and deficits to address in treatment
Correct answer: Highlighting what is going right and what resources the person already has
A strengths-based approach centers on identifying and mobilizing existing capacities, skills, and resources rather than focusing on problems or deficits.
Question 5: In recovery-oriented care, 'choice' refers to:
- Allowing clinicians to select the best treatment option for the person
- The person's right to make meaningful decisions about their own care and life (Correct answer)
- Offering two standard treatment protocols and letting the person pick one
- Reducing service options to only evidence-based practices
Correct answer: The person's right to make meaningful decisions about their own care and life
Choice in recovery-oriented care means that individuals have genuine, informed options and the autonomy to direct their own recovery path.
Question 6: Which statement most accurately reflects the role of culture in recovery?
- Recovery outcomes are the same regardless of cultural background
- Cultural factors should be addressed only if the person raises them
- Culture shapes how people understand mental health, wellness, and recovery (Correct answer)
- Cultural competence is only relevant in non-English-speaking communities
Correct answer: Culture shapes how people understand mental health, wellness, and recovery
Culture profoundly influences a person's beliefs about illness, help-seeking behaviors, and what wellness and recovery mean to them personally.
Question 7: A peer specialist supporting someone who relapses should FIRST:
- Contact the person's treatment provider to report the relapse
- Remind the person that relapse is a normal part of recovery and explore what they can learn from it (Correct answer)
- Encourage the person to restart their day count immediately
- Discontinue peer support services until the person is stable again
Correct answer: Remind the person that relapse is a normal part of recovery and explore what they can learn from it
Normalizing relapse as a potential part of recovery and using it as a learning opportunity supports continued engagement rather than shame or disconnection.
PSS Recovery and Wellness Principles 2
Which of the following best describes the concept of 'recovery capital'?