I am absolutely delighted with the new WRAP Facilitator Manual, Updated Edition. Hooray!
And to hear that it is available without charge to people who are current with their WRAP Facilitator Trainings, Recertifications, and Refreshers is fantastic.
As you likely know, I wrote the original WRAP facilitator manual and several follow-up editions. I worked with a group of peers on developing WRAP, and because so many people, including myself, found WRAP to be such an amazing and effective tool, I wrote the original red WRAP book and other WRAP books designed for particular groups such as kids, veterans, and families.
Over time, and with input from peers all over the world, the WRAP Training became standardized, based on input from the people who first developed it. That training, the one we still use, is both powerful and effective. It was changing people’s lives. That format and the parameters around it are critical to effectively facilitating a WRAP group. WRAP, introduced to people through the Mental Health Recovery and WRAP training, was studied intensively by various organizations and the University of Illinois and was found to be effective at giving people the skills and strategies to relieve difficult feelings and behaviors and move on with their lives. I found that it worked for me back then and it still does.
Back in 2009, I gathered together all the research on WRAP and submitted it for recognition as an Evidence-Based Practice (EBP). It was accepted. That recognition stands. Unfortunately, over the years, some unauthorized people have taken liberties with WRAP. They felt they knew more about what people needed and what would work than what the WRAP originators intended. Some people decided that the format and guide in that red WRAP book and the original manual was not the most effective, and that they could come up with something better, overriding the original program.
Things got changed, things got left out. Not good. People were not getting the real WRAP. Because of these violations, WRAP did not work well for some people, or at all.
No one has the right to change my copyrighted work or the work of the originators.
Facilitators or people who were not following training guide that was not the same as the original guide were corrupting what is known to be an effective program. People attending such training could not be assured that they were getting the WRAP that WORKS.
This new manual is that original WRAP program—the one we all know works.
It has been updated so that it incorporates the latest technology and more current language, but it is the “real WRAP” and what you, as a Facilitator, should be using as your guide as you facilitate WRAP groups or work with individuals.
Along with my partner Ed, we worked with Advocates for Human Potential (AHP) reviewing and revising the manual so it would better reflect the intent of the originators, make it easier for you to ensure success of your groups, and incorporate technological advances and options that have not been available in the past.
This new facilitator manual is the bottom line. If you are going to facilitate a WRAP group, this manual is your guide. It is fantastic. It has worked for millions of people all over the world—people in all kinds of circumstances and with all kinds of issues. Let’s stick with it.
It is standard and unchangeable. It has stood the test of time.
Learn more about Mary Ellen, her mother Kate, and the origins of WRAP in this short video.
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.
