

Mary Ellen Copeland, PhD, developed Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP) with a group of people with lived experience who were attending a mental health recovery workshop in 1997. She is the original author of the WRAP Red Book, as well as dozens of other WRAP books and materials. She has dedicated the last 30 years of her life to learning from people who have mental health issues; discovering the simple, safe, non-invasive ways they get well, stay well, and move forward in their lives; and then sharing what she has learned with others through keynote addresses, trainings, and the development of books, curriculums, and other resources. Now that she is retired, and that, as she intended, others are continuing to share what she has learned, she continues to learn from those who have mental health issues and those who support them. She is a frequent contributor to this site.


Turning to Heavy-Duty Wellness Tools in a Difficult Time
The next few months may be challenging. There is colder weather (I am envying my friends in the southern hemisphere) and less daylight. We are in the midst of a raging pandemic that is expected to get worse before it gets better, with no certainty about when it might...
WRAP in the Time of COVID-19
This has been an interesting time in all of our lives. This time, this quarantine, the isolation, the pandemic—they are all things I’ve never experienced in my long life. Sure, my family was quarantined for a few weeks when my brother and sister had scarlet...Reflections on 20 Years of WRAP
Twenty years ago this month, WRAP was developed by an amazing group of peers in northern Vermont. WRAP’s 20th birthday has made me think a lot about my own WRAP and what it has meant to me in my own life. Of course, it has been absolutely thrilling to see WRAP spread...My Recovery Journey: Mary Ellen’s Reflections, Part IV
You and I have been on a journey, not just the past four weeks, but for more than three decades. Our journey of recovery has traversed valleys of despair and taken us atop hillsides of hope. There have been unpleasant detours and unexpected surprises. There have been...