-THE RECOVERY SPECIALIST-

My unconventional 40-year career in community mental health was built on specialized education, which allowed me to view the practice of psychiatry through a novel outsider and insider lens. This unique view led to my counter-institutional thinking regarding mainstream psychiatry’s “medication-first policy” and the implications of medication failure on impeding people from pursuing a recovery. My career insights have led to the creation of The Recovery Protocol Breakthrough to address the impact of poor medication returns eroding the belief in people that making a recovery is not an elusive dream. Of particular importance is my witnessing inside the hallways of institutional psychiatry the limitations of medications and their impact on the people served.

The areas of specialized education span from, an associate degree in Social Service Work, Psychosocial Rehabilitation in Psychiatry, NLP (Neurolinguistic Programming), Nutrition applied to Mental Health, Energy Medicine for Emotional Change, and Narrative Practices applied to Brief Psychotherapy. With my unique expertise, I have been invited to conduct many workshops for professionals (Dietitians, Social Workers, Psychiatrists, and Psychotherapists) over my career span, covering topics such as the Holistic Approach to Trauma, Nutritional Approach to Mental Health Recovery and Recovery Orientation applied to Mental Health.

Major service roles have seen me design and direct a short-term stabilization unit for homeless men with psychiatric issues, holding a position as a mobile crisis first responder in mental health and as a trauma therapist for a community health agency serving marginalized populations. Significant career achievements include developing the first nutrition consultation service for underserved populations with psychiatric conditions and commencing a single-session clinic for rapid counseling with a major inner-city health center.

The conception of The Recovery Protocol Breakthrough would not have been possible without taking the road less traveled through my professional career, listening to unheard consumer voices, and utilizing my lived experience with the mental health system.

From this location, I am well-positioned to speak directly to consumers and service providers of all stripes regarding this innovative, novel, practice-based evidence program. My desire is for consumers experiencing “medication failure” to get more from their service providers in order to take charge of their lives and start recovering.

-Paul Pakeman
The Recovery Specialist, Author, Citizen Psychiatry

Praise for Former Works of the Author
“Paul Pakeman combines professional knowledge with personal experience to render a thoughtful and provocative challenge to traditional mental health treatment. He offers important insights into finding new paths to healing that embrace the mind-body connection. His holistic approach provides direction for both mental health consumers and professionals to collaborate with each other to truly engage in a healing paradigm”. -Shirley Roberts, R.N. M.Ed.

“I find a lot of validity in Paul Pakeman’s opinions about the currently offered medical approach to mental illness.  Medical doctors often do not attend to the actual physical health and needs of their psychiatric patients. Mr. Pakeman has my support in encouraging doctors to order a full range of blood and urine tests with every patient, including assessments of thyroid, adrenals, lipids, protein, vitamins, and mineral status, much of which is covered by OHIP.  Having practised orthomolecular medicine for 35 years, I have found, almost always, marked improvement in the patients who integrate, into their other medical regimens, lifestyle changes including attention to sleep, diet, stress, and appropriate hormonal, vitamin, mineral, and amino acid support. I would like to see GPs and psychiatrists beginning to include these tests as part of their standard of practice for every person with a mental health issue.   We need to be more encompassing in our treatment of the physical aspect of mental illness.”
–Bryn Waern, M.D., Diploma Psychiatry,

“Pakeman’s expertly written treatise tells us why modern psychiatry is in need of some major changes. He skillfully explains why all other branches of medicine, except for psychiatry, rely on objective data before rendering accurate diagnoses.  As a result, it is the patient who suffers from inadequate diagnoses and, therefore, inadequate treatments. He also describes psychiatry’s monopolistic hold over our socio-legal system and how its structures and power wrongfully encourage passivity over empowerment, tranquilizing patients into states of ill-health without the hope of recovery. He asserts that a paradigm shift is needed, one that will transform patients from victims to victors, to empowered individuals having hope and optimism. I highly recommend Pakeman’s ‘Medical Tests For Mental Health’ to anyone having the courage and open-mindedness to challenge the status quo and demand change.”
-Jonathan E. Prousky, BPHE, B.Sc., MSc, ND (Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine)