by Catherine Hewitt
I had read about WRAP many years ago when I read a book about Fibromyalgia co-authored by Mary Ellen Copeland. It seemed like a good idea. I took parts and applied to my life but didn’t formally adopt the program.
In June of 2003, I became a widow. I was faced for the first time with the situation of not being supported. After the initial shock, I began thinking that maybe I could work part-time. I had many ups and downs over the next 2 years dealing with the grief, raising my children and working with my mental and physical illnesses. I attended a psychosocial rehabilitation program near my home off and on. I also volunteered at different recovery groups on several committees as a way to learn about recovery and supplement my income.
In June of 2004, I ended up in the hospital with severe depression. I was reintroduced to the WRAP when a medication group viewed the WRAP tape. It started to come back to me. I worked with one of the staff to develop a WRAP notebook. I felt empowered and started to climb out of my depression.
In September of 2005, I had the opportunity to participate in a 2-day workshop with Walter and Carol from Ohio. I was also attending a 16 weeklong training to become a Peer Specialist and attending the local Community College part-time. It was a full plate. I was stretching my wings as far as I could.
In October 2005, I was picked to attend a weeklong training with Walter and Carol to become a facilitator. I took a week off school. The pace of all this was intense but I thought that with my WRAP plan I could do it. Midweek I started to get a respiratory illness. Just having a WRAP plan wasn’t enough. Several weeks later I ended up hospitalized for a week. I wrote another WRAP plan while in the hospital, using the tools to figure out what went wrong and to plan another strategy. Writing the WRAP while I was in the hospital allowed me to feel as if I was in charge of my health for the first time. I shared my WRAP plan with anyone who came into my room and would listen! Telling it over and over helped cement it in my mind.
After 6 weeks at home, I returned to school and my other training. I was determined to try and get out of the dry dock. I thought keeping my WRAP plan in my head was enough. In December of 2005, I ended up hospitalized again for depression. I brought my WRAP plan and again looked back to see where I went wrong. I made another plan. Again, I talked to everyone I could about it. I showed it to all my doctors. I was out in a week this time.
In 2006, I start going back to school. I am also part of my agency’s WRAP team. We planned to do an 8-week session for one of our residential sites. In January, I met with my new psychiatrist and introduced him to WRAP and talked about how this was going to help keep me well. I was stared on some new medication.
In February I started to get sick again. I was anxious beyond belief. I was having a lot of physical symptoms as well. A lot of snafus were happening in terms of my switching over to community mental health for therapy and scripts. I kept to my WRAP plan to help me feel in control. I couldn’t understand why I was getting sick again. I finally got to see the doctor and he told me I was having a reaction to the drug. Because I had a WRAP plan, I was able to stay out of the hospital! I rewrote my WRAP plan again, tweaking it.
After a couple of months, I began thinking about working again. I began making plans with my coach about how to go about it. I wrote a WRAP plan for this goal. My team is planning another WRAP session August 1st, 2006. I plan to be there this time.
Having a WRAP plan is about writing and following it, but it is also about showing your treatment team that you are serious about being an active part, a proactive part. Having a WRAP plan helped me to talk to those on my treatment team, helped me to feel empowered. It gave confidence; ground to stand on. It is like having a diploma from the prestigious school of hard knocks. Professionals respect it. They respect me. I respect me.
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.
