In recent years, the Chinese community-based psychiatric rehabilitation (CBPR) policy has been gradually promoted, with social workers emerging as key frontline players. However, existing research has insufficiently addressed the strategic services and institutional constraints faced by social workers in recovery-oriented practice. This article draws on in-depth interviews with 19 social workers involved in CBPR services in Shanghai to explore how they navigate and assemble recovery practices within a politically dominated institutional structure. Data was analyzed through reflective thematic analysis, according to the “Recovering Assemblages” approach.
Findings
Our study shows the practical, piecemeal paths of social workers across three dimensions: tracing relationships and needs, stabilizing the body, and storytelling support to rebuild attachment. In addition, we also highlight some structural dilemmas faced by the service: institutional constraints, incompatibility of practitioner and family expectations, and the tension between rehabilitation concepts and institutional goals. The study found that, within a context of limited resources and authority, social workers construct fragmented rehabilitation practices through professional ethics and relational labor. Although the outcomes were fragile, they reflected a localized exploration of the recovery concept.
Applications
We advocate for a re-examination of China's community-based psychiatric rehabilitation policy and social workers’ services on recovery from the perspectives of relationship continuity and service autonomy, encouraging a shift from stability logic to the care orientation.
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