Relying on outcome measures to determine if an intervention can aid recovery from serious mental illness, is a fallacy. Outcome measures simplify a complex and personal experience, and are hard to predict, particularly within non-clinical community interventions. Yet intervention efficacy is often dependant on such measures, determining access to funding and even access to services. Given that establishing a context for recovery is within the control of facilitators, intervention contexts present an alternative approach to evaluating intervention success.