Background: A recovery approach within mental health services has gained momentum. Its meaning for adults with intellectual disabilities recovering from mental health disorders is less understood. Peoples' experiences of recovery were explored to help inform recovery-focused recommendations for clinical practise. Method: A qualitative design using interpretative phenomenological analysis was applied. Nine interviews with people with intellectual disabilities who had experienced mental health disorders were conducted. Results: Two themes that emerged focusing on entry to service and the recovery experience. Subthemes for entry to service included unfair treatment, valuing information and managing expectations. The recovery experience subthemes were therapeutic alliance, self-management, emotional development, autonomy, connectedness, positive identity and a belief in recovery. Conclusions: Hearing peoples' experiences directly allowed the current themes to emerge in the context of living with lifelong disabilities. This article adds to the sparse literature and highlights considerations for recovery-based interventions for people with intellectual disabilities.