From Wellness Recovery Action Plan and Peer Support: Personal, Group and Program Development by Mary Ellen Copeland and Shery Mead
It is important to notice how our beliefs and ideas affect how we do Peer Support. If we don’t pay attention, we may end up doing to each other what’s been done to us, and we may behave in old ways to get what we need. If we can learn to stand back from our own perspective and remember that we’ve all had different messages about illness and help, we’ll find that we can build more trusting, healing, and respectful relationships.
| Mental Health Language | Regular People Language |
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Practice transforming these statements to fit with the Peer Support model.
- “The consumers in my program are unmotivated.”
Instead I could say ___________________________________________
- “Maybe I should call the crisis line for you…”
Instead I could say ___________________________________________
- “Staff here are more recovered than members.”
Instead I could say ___________________________________________
- “She’s fragile/in crisis.”
Instead I could say ___________________________________________
- “Staff should have good boundaries and never give out their home phone numbers.”
Instead I could say ___________________________________________
- “No one ever wants to help me.”
Instead I could say ___________________________________________
- “We don’t take calls regarding suicidal feelings, call Crisis.”
Instead I could say ___________________________________________
Some possible responses:
- People here have been taught to have low expectations.
- How can I support you in doing what you need to do?
- We’re all working on our recovery and we all have good and bad days.
- She has survived a lot and will get through this tough time.
- It is good to figure out where and when to set limits.
- I feel pretty isolated.
- I’m a little scared about what’s going on for you, how can we figure this out together?
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.
