Coming Soon: WRAP for Life

Mary Ellen Copeland's latest book, WRAP for Life, is an extensive revision of her 1999 book, Winning Against Relapse.
The original book was written when the Wellness Recovery Action Plan was still in its infancy, and when WRAP was originally developed by, and for use by, people who experienced mental health issues. WRAP is now widely used both as a preventive strategy and as a way to address all types of life issues. 
WRAP for Life includes sample WRAP Plans designed to address specific issues such as smoking cessation, weight loss, aging, diabetes, post-traumatic stress disorder, cancer, incarceration, and a special chapter on suicide.

WRAP for Life will be available this summer

Visit the bookstore for more books and resources

Seeds of WRAP: Getting Well

This article was written by Mary Ellen Copeland in 1995, before WRAP was developed. The seeds of WRAP are clearly being formed through the gathering of the Five Key Recovery Concepts, Hope, Personal Responsibility, Education, Self Advocacy, and Support, that are so obvious in these first steps of Mary Ellen's road to recovery. You can also see how she began using what we now call Wellness Tools, those tools that helped her through that difficult time, and how she began to observe the Early Warning Signs that told her she needed to take action before things got worse.
Spring is all around us here, in all its glory and hope, and so it seems like a good time to remember the seeds that became WRAP. 

Read the article "Getting Well"

The History of WRAP:

This article continues the story, "Getting Well; the Seeds of WRAP" and describes the process on how the parts of WRAP were formed. Read how the concept that would become the Wellness Recovery Action Plan came into being. 

Now let's fast forward. It is 1997. It is a cold winter day in northern Vermont. In the past 6 years I have written several books based on my studies, my mother has died at the age of 82, leaving her family and the community adrift in sorrow, and I have been traveling all over the country teaching people the simple, safe self-help skills and strategies that I have learned through my studies. And I was doing pretty well myself. Not great but pretty well. I still often had moments of deep despair. And sometimes I felt so good that I was obnoxious. I thought I had it all figured out.         Read the article

WRAP First!

I often find myself frustrated with the mental health and the medical health systems; systems that have often taught us that our first defense against a physical health, mental health, or life difficulty is reaching out to health care providers or some kind of invasive treatment or the use of a strategy that could have long term implications. These are systems that usually don't promote self-agency or prevention. 

I wish we could all magically transform our thinking to "WRAP First".  I think if we did that, many (not all of course) invasive treatments, hospitalizations, and long periods of discomfort and dis-ease could be avoided. Life could be so much more enjoyable. I am committed to spreading the word about "WRAP First". Let me explain...
 
Read the rest of the article

WRAP for People with Developmental Distinctions

This recently released workbook is for adults who have their own unique way of learning and/ or communicating; people who we may refer to as having developmental disAbilities. It can be used as a plan to support a person in order to reach a self-identified life goal. This book was written with the assistance of four experts by experience, and you will read how each of them is living WRAP in his/her life. It contains Crisis and Post Crisis Plans and provides tips key supporters can use when assisting someone who may learn and/or communicate differently than you do.

Click on the book to go to the bookstore

View the WRAP for Develpopmental Distinctions webinar

Mental Health Recovery Court

In 2008, the Kalamazoo 8th District Court of Michigan established a Mental Health Recovery Court [MHRC]. The program started after some local judges noticed they were seeing the same people over and over — mostly on misdemeanor charges rather than felonies — and that many of them had mental health challenges with co-occurring substance abuse. With the idea of getting at the root causes and finding ways to eliminate them before their crimes became more serious, these innovative justices took their idea to Kalamazoo Community Mental Health & Substance Abuse Services.  With the collaboration of defense attorneys, the county prosecutor and almost every mental health program in Kalamazoo County, the Mental Health Recovery Court was formed.

     The Wellness Recovery Action Plan [WRAP] has been a major part of this recovery-oriented approach since its inception. In the five years since the program began, 161 people have completed the WRAP class, 147 of which were participants of the program, 12 were staff, and 2 were natural supports of the participants. One of the judges also completed the WRAP training, which included making a WRAP plan for himself. According to Bob Butkiewicz, Program Supervisor for the MHRC, “WRAP became the philosophy of the court."          Read more

WRAP in the Criminal Justice System

WRAP is successfully being implemented in a variety of ways with people involved in the Criminal Justice System.

Click here to read about how and where WRAP is working

WRAP Empowerment Photography

Looking for WRAP inspiration?

Using digital cameras, participants in this study took pictures depicting the impact of WRAP on their health and mental health recovery. They invite you to view their photographs and learn how these pictures depict their personal recovery journey. WRAP experts and participants worked with the University of Illinois at Chicago to mount this inspiring online exhibit.

Read more about this inspiring project

WRAP® Goes to High School!

Twenty-seven high schools students from two separate high schools, and one project coordinator from Alberta Health Services, came together to participate in a groundbreaking initiative to bring WRAP® to High School students in Edmonton, Canada, Alberta. In the first phase of the project, each of the participants was guided through the 5 Key Concepts and the process of making their own WRAP. Most of the students who participated in phase one of this pilot project recently completed the second phase by becoming certified WRAP facilitators, trained by wellness professionals from the Copeland Centre and Alberta Health Services.    

Click here to read an article by high school principal, Tim Cusack

Let's Talk About Mental Health

Join Mary Ellen Copeland and hosts Nels Kloster and Robert Stack for a friendly and engaging talk about WRAP.

This show aired on BCTV on October 21, 2013

Click on the screen to see the interview