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‘My life, my choices’ runs over five weeks, with one theme covered each week, and meets for two days a week. The facilitators (course leaders) are one person with lived experience of mental health problems and one health professional. The participants are service users in the municipal mental health services and healthcare workers in the same services. It is voluntary to take part.

The participants write individual goals at the start of the course and have the opportunity to work with these throughout the course. The ‘homework’ from week to week may be to do something or reflect on something relevant to a goal and then share this with the group in the following session if they wish. Each week, the groups focus on one theme taken from the conceptual framework of recovery (Leamy et al. 2011): connectedness; hope and optimism about the future; identity; meaning in life; and empowerment (CHIME). Groups explore the themes using methods like brainstorming, drawing, film, evoke cards, sharing experiences, etc., and relate what they share to their own goals and everyday lives.

The courses are planned ahead and the facilitators have a plan for each group session. At the same time, the participants are given the opportunity to shape the course. The participants start the course by agreeing ‘house rules’ and slowly become responsible for the processes of learning during the course. Taking part in co‐creational processes makes it possible to learn based on information and experiences from all those present in the group.

Data from focus groups (on the last course day) indicates that the course is useful to both professionals and service users. Participants learn more about themselves and become aware of areas for development in their own lives. This may be related to the themes: ‘The themes in the course are important, they are about life’ (Group 5). At the same time, they are perceived as challenging:

‘It has been good and bad – I’ve been exhausted after a session. But I believe the strain is part of moving on’ (Group 5).