In the Inclusion in Community project, the sites wanted to build the goal of inclusion of consumer/survivors in the broad life of the community into all aspects of their work. To those involved in one of the sites, this meant that consumer/survivors should steer the process, and determine the direction that inclusion would take in their community, Because the decisions made in the project would most strongly affect the lives of consumers, they determined the direction the project took.

As a first step, the consumer/survivors who steered the project decided that they wanted to document the wealth of experiential knowledge that people in the group, and other consumers, possessed. Nearly forty individuals gave freely of their time and experience to discuss the process of recovery from mental illness. The end result of the research project that followed was a rich resource of documented life experience entitled "Journeys in Recovery".

In the report many consumers identified that when they were trying to get back on their feet after having been in the hospital, they often felt adrift and isolated. They felt they needed to be able to make connections with peer support groups and other community resources that could assist them with basic things like finding a decent place to live, getting work and accessing community facilities and services.

The consumers who took part in the research emphasized that they were not referring to specific mental health-related services, they were talking about peer-support and the types of resources that were available to everyone in the community.

"Journeys in Recovery" led to what became the hospital outreach project, which proposed to link people coming out of the hospital to peer and community supports, to make the transition more manageable. As one participant described the process: "our project went from recording experiences to putting the experience to practical use to make the journey easier for the ones following us".

The recommendations yielded by the "Journeys In Recovery" research process became the sparkfor action. By providing an opportunity to document people’s experiences, analyze the information and take action based on that information, the Inclusion project encouraged people with mental illness to play an active role in shaping the decisions that affect their lives.