Your WRAP is your Wellness Recovery Action Plan

The Wellness Recovery Action Plan concept was developed by Mary Ellen Copeland around 1997 in Vermont, USA.

It was developed for mental health service users to be able to work on their own recovery. The formation of the plan was done by participants who has previously been patients of psychiatric hospitals.

What they developed was found to work for them and helped them recover from their own mental health difficulties.

There are a few key principles to your WRAP:

• Hope – this is usually found in people who were starting on their recovery and were also starting to get their lives back together. Hope is a large part of the process of recovery and as such a large part of the overall WRAP program.

• Personal Responsibility – each individual needs to take personal responsibility in taking the steps towards recovery, such as attending a support group or making positive changes in their lifestyles and diets.
• Education – when dealing with a mental health issue it is important that you educate yourself about the possible triggers and the treatments that are available to you. Medication and knowing the side the side effects of same fall under this heading.
• Self Advocacy – knowing and accepting that you have a mental health issue can start off the process of education and getting the facts about your particular condition. This can be very empowering.
• Support – having a structured support system in place is a key component in the Wellness Recovery Action Plan. Knowing who you can turn to in the tough times will help dealing with your condition. These supporters can be close friends or family but in general you will know if they are the right people because you will enjoy spending time in their company. You will feel secure and comfortable in they presence.

From the start of The Lemonade Kart I have been mindful of the fact that we all have different support networks. I always referred to them as TEAMS. We are part of several different teams by default and we have a natural responsibility to those TEAMS.

Examples of Natural Teams:

• Work
• School
• Sports
• Social
• Family

In summary WRAP is a tool that helps you with:

• Managing your mental health difficulties.
• Taking control of your physical health and fitness.
• Changing behaviours to more positive behaviours.
• Planning a budget and ways to save money.
• Parenting.
• Seeking employment or reaching educational goals.
• Helping carers to manage challenging or difficult behaviours.

Your WRAP programme should be tailored to you in practical, day-to-day terms and holds the key to achieving goals set by you.

If there is anything that you feel is missing from this article, or you would like to get in contact with us. Please use the contact form on the Home Page of the website.