GROW is a peer support

Peer support

Peer support occurs when people provide knowledge, experience, emotional, social or practical help to each other. It commonly refers to an initiative consisting of trained supporters, and can take a number of forms such as peer mentoring, listening, or counseling...

 and mutual-aid organization for recovery from, and prevention of, serious mental illness. GROW was founded in Sydney, Australia in 1957 by Father Cornelius B. "Con" Keogh

Cornelius Keogh

Father Cornelius Keogh, OAM, is an Australian Roman Catholic priest who founded the International Community Mental Health Movement GROW....

, a Roman Catholic

Roman Catholic Church

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

 priest

Priest

A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...

, and psychiatric patients who sought help with their mental illness in Alcoholics Anonymous

Alcoholics Anonymous

Alcoholics Anonymous is an international mutual aid movement which says its "primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety." Now claiming more than 2 million members, AA was founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith in Akron, Ohio...

 (AA). Consequently, GROW adapted many of AA's principles and practices. As the organization matured, GROW members learned of Recovery International, an organization also created to help people with serious mental illness

Mental illness

A mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern generally associated with subjective distress or disability that occurs in an individual, and which is not a part of normal development or culture. Such a disorder may consist of a combination of affective, behavioural,...

, and integrated pieces of its will

Will (philosophy)

Will, in philosophical discussions, consonant with a common English usage, refers to a property of the mind, and an attribute of acts intentionally performed. Actions made according to a person's will are called "willing" or "voluntary" and sometimes pejoratively "willful"...

-training methods. As of 2005 there were more than 800 GROW groups active worldwide. GROW groups are open to anyone who would like to join, though they specifically seek out those who have a history of psychiatric hospitalization or are socioeconomically disadvantaged. Despite the capitalization, GROW is not an acronym. Much of GROW's initial development was made possible with support of from Orval Hobart Mowrer

Orval Hobart Mowrer

Orval Hobart Mowrer was an American born psychologist and professor of psychology at the University of Illinois from 1948 to 1975 known for his research on behaviour therapy. Mowrer practiced psychotherapy in Champaign-Urbana and at Galesburg State Research Hospital. In 1954 Mowrer held the...

, Reuben F. Scarf, W. Clement Stone

W. Clement Stone

William Clement Stone was a businessman, philanthropist and New Thought self-help book author.-Early life and work:...

 and Lions Clubs International

Lions Clubs International

Lions Clubs International is a secular service organization with over 44,500 clubs and more than 1,368,683 members in 191 countries around the world founded by Melvin Jones Headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois, United States, the organization aims to meet the needs of communities on a local and...

.

Processes

For more details on this topic, see Self-help groups for mental health: Group processes

GROW's literature includes the Twelve Stages of Decline, which indicate that emotional illness begins with self-centeredness, and the Twelve Steps of Personal Growth, a blend of AA's Twelve Steps and will

Will (philosophy)

Will, in philosophical discussions, consonant with a common English usage, refers to a property of the mind, and an attribute of acts intentionally performed. Actions made according to a person's will are called "willing" or "voluntary" and sometimes pejoratively "willful"...

-training methods from Recovery International. GROW members view recovery as an ongoing life process rather than an outcome and are expected to continue following the Steps after completing them in order to maintain their mental health

Mental health

Mental health describes either a level of cognitive or emotional well-being or an absence of a mental disorder. From perspectives of the discipline of positive psychology or holism mental health may include an individual's ability to enjoy life and procure a balance between life activities and...

.
The Twelve Stages of Decline

1. We gave too much importance to ourselves and our feelings.
2. We grew inattentive to God's presence and providence and God's natural order in our lives.
3. We let competitive motives, in our dealings with others, prevail over our common personal welfare.
4. We expressed our suppressed certain feelings against the better judgment of conscience or sound advice.
5. We began thinking in isolation from others, following feelings and imagination instead of reason.
6. We neglected the care and control of our bodies.
7. We avoided recognizing our personal decline and shrank from the task of changing.
8. We systematically disguised in our imaginations the real nature of our unhealthy conduct.
9. We became a prey to obsessions, delusions and hallucinations.
10. We practised irrational habits, under elated feelings of irresponsibility or despairing feelings of inability or compulsion.
11. We rejected advice and refused to co-operate with help.
12. We lost all insight into our condition.

The Twelve Steps of Recovery and Personal Growth

1. We admitted we were inadequate or maladjusted to life.
2. We firmly resolved to get well and co-operated with the help that we needed.
3. We surrendered to the healing power of a wise and loving God.
4. We made a personal inventory and accepted ourselves.
5. We made a moral inventory and cleaned out our hearts.
6. We endured until cured.
7. We took care and control of our bodies.
8. We learned to think by reason rather than by feelings and imagination.
9. We trained our wills to govern our feelings.
10. We took our responsible and caring place in society.
11. We grew daily closer to maturity.
12. We carried GROW's hopeful, healing, and transforming message to others in need.

GROW suggests atheists and agnostics use "We became inattentive to objective natural order in our lives" and "We trusted in a health-giving power in our lives as a whole" for the Second Stage of Decline and Third Step of Personal Growth, respectively.

Results of qualitative analysis

Statistical evaluations of interviews with GROW members found they identified self-reliance

Self-Reliance

Self-Reliance is an essay written by American Transcendentalist philosopher and essayist, Ralph Waldo Emerson. It contains the most thorough statement of one of Emerson's repeating themes, the need for each individual to avoid conformity and false consistency, and follow his or her own instincts...

, industriousness, peer support

Peer support

Peer support occurs when people provide knowledge, experience, emotional, social or practical help to each other. It commonly refers to an initiative consisting of trained supporters, and can take a number of forms such as peer mentoring, listening, or counseling...

, and gaining a sense of personal value

Value (personal and cultural)

A personal or cultural value is an absolute or relative ethical value, the assumption of which can be the basis for ethical action. A value system is a set of consistent values and measures. A principle value is a foundation upon which other values and measures of integrity are based...

 or self-esteem

Self-esteem

Self-esteem is a term in psychology to reflect a person's overall evaluation or appraisal of his or her own worth. Self-esteem encompasses beliefs and emotions such as triumph, despair, pride and shame: some would distinguish how 'the self-concept is what we think about the self; self-esteem, the...

 as the essential ingredients of recovery. Similar evaluations of GROW's literature revealed thirteen core principles of the GROW's program, they are reproduced in the list below by order of relevance with a quote from GROW's literature explaining the principle.

1. Be Reasonable: "We learned to think by reason rather than by feelings and imagination."
2. Decentralize, participate in community: "...decentralization from self and participation in a community of persons is the very process of recovery or personal growth."
3. Surrender to the Healing Power of a wise and loving God: "God, who made me and everything connected with me, can overcome any and every evil that affects my life."
4. Grow Closer to Maturity: "Maturity is a coming to terms with oneself, with others, and with life as a whole."
5. Activate One's Self to Recover and Grow "Take your fingers off your pulse and start living."
6. Become Hopeful: "I can, and ultimately will, become completely well; God who made me can restore me and enable me to do my part. The best in life and love and happiness is ahead of me."
7. Settle for Disorder: "Settle for disorder in lesser things for the sake of order in greater things; and therefore be content to be discontent in many things."

8. Be Ordinary: "I can do whatever ordinary good people do, and avoid whatever ordinary good people avoid. My special abilities will develop in harmony only if my foremost aim is to be a good ordinary human being."
   
9. Help Others: We carried the GROW message to others in need.
   
10. Accept One's Personal Value: "No matter how bad my physical, mental, social or spiritual condition I am always a human person, loved by God and a connecting link between persons; I am still valuable, my life has a purpose, and I have my unique place and my unique part in my Creator's own saving, healing and transforming work."
    
11. Use GROW: "Use the hopeful and cheerful language of GROW."
    
12. Gain Insight: "We made moral inventory and cleaned out our hearts."
    
13. Accept Help: "We firmly resolved to get well and co-operated with the help that we needed."
    

Effectiveness

For more details on this topic, see Self-help groups for mental health: Effectiveness

Participation in GROW has been shown to decrease the number of hospitalizations per member as well as the duration of hospitalizations when they occur. Members report an increased sense of security

Security

Security is the degree of protection against danger, damage, loss, and crime. Security as a form of protection are structures and processes that provide or improve security as a condition. The Institute for Security and Open Methodologies in the OSSTMM 3 defines security as "a form of protection...

 and self-esteem

Self-esteem

Self-esteem is a term in psychology to reflect a person's overall evaluation or appraisal of his or her own worth. Self-esteem encompasses beliefs and emotions such as triumph, despair, pride and shame: some would distinguish how 'the self-concept is what we think about the self; self-esteem, the...

, and decreased anxiety

Anxiety

Anxiety is a psychological and physiological state characterized by somatic, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral components. The root meaning of the word anxiety is 'to vex or trouble'; in either presence or absence of psychological stress, anxiety can create feelings of fear, worry, uneasiness,...

. A longitudinal study of GROW membership found time involved in the program correlated with increased autonomy

Autonomy

Autonomy is a concept found in moral, political and bioethical philosophy. Within these contexts, it is the capacity of a rational individual to make an informed, un-coerced decision...

, environmental mastery, personal growth, self-acceptance

Self-acceptance

Self-acceptance is defined as affirmation or acceptance of self in spite of weaknesses or deficiencies.Although this term has been often understood in a common sense way, researchers have defined it formally in terms of positive and negative self-concepts...

 and social skills

Social skills

A social skill is any skill facilitating interaction and communication with others. Social rules and relations are created, communicated, and changed in verbal and nonverbal ways. The process of learning such skills is called socialization...

. Women in particular experience positive identity

Identity (social science)

Identity is a term used to describe a person's conception and expression of their individuality or group affiliations . The term is used more specifically in psychology and sociology, and is given a great deal of attention in social psychology...

 transformation

Identity formation

Identity formation is the development of the distinct personality of an individual regarded as a persisting entity in a particular stage of life in which individual characteristics are possessed and by which a person is recognised or known . This process defines individuals to others and themselves...

, build friendship

Friendship

Friendship is a form of interpersonal relationship generally considered to be closer than association, although there is a range of degrees of intimacy in both friendships and associations. Friendship and association are often thought of as spanning across the same continuum...

s and find a sense of community

Sense of community

Sense of community is a concept in community psychology and social psychology, as well as in several other research disciplines, such as urban sociology, which focuses on the experience of community rather than its structure, formation, setting, or other features...

 in GROW groups.

Literature

The Program of Growth to Maturity, generally referred to as the 'Blue Book', is the principal literature used in GROW groups. The book is divided into three sections based on the developmental stages of members: 'Beginning Growers', 'Progressing Growers' and 'Seasoned Growers'. Additionally, there are three related books written by Cornelius B. Keogh, and one by Anne Waters, used in conjunction with the Blue Book.

See also

• Emotions Anonymous
  Emotions Anonymous
  Emotions Anonymous is a twelve-step program for recovery from mental and emotional illness. there were approximately 1,100 EA groups active in the United States. EA is the largest of three organizations that have adapted the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous to create a program for people...
  
  
• Recovery International (formerly Recovery, Inc.)
• Self-help groups for mental health
  Self-help groups for mental health
  Self-help groups for mental health are voluntary associations of people who share a common desire to overcome mental illness or otherwise increase their level of cognitive or emotional wellbeing. There are several international mental health self-help organizations including Emotions Anonymous, the...
  
  

External links

• GROW in America, growinamerica.org
• GROW in Australia, grow.net.au
• GROW in Ireland, grow.ie
• GROW in New Zealand, grow.org.nz