“…Within this project, these women asked to be referred to as Consumer/Survivor/Recovering persons, a term developed within the first 2 years of the study to reflect their histories as mental health service consumers, survivors of physical and sexual abuse, and recovering users of drugs and alcohol. This requirement is consistent with the position of various authors in the mental health field, who have noted that including people with direct experience with the services and the unique understanding of these systems that they bring can improve the quality of services (Campbell, 1997;Deegan, 1995;Fisher, 1994aFisher, , 1994bMcCabe & Unzicker, 1995;NASMHPD, 1998).…”