What is Recovery?
Recovery is the unique journey people experience in realising a satisfying and fulfilling life with the challenges that can be associated with mental health difficulties. Recovery principles emphasise the importance of fostering hope, building a network of supports and harnessing personal strengths, whilst underlining the values of personal choice and responsibility. Recovery provides a shift in focus from mental illness to mental wellness and recognises that people can have occasional setbacks on their recovery journey.
What is WRAP?
Wellness Recovery Action Planning, or WRAP as it is more commonly known, provides a systematic, planned approach which assists people in recovering and maintaining wellness. Developed by Mary Ellen Copeland (1989, www.mentalhealthrecovery.com), it has been designed by people with mental health difficulties and provides individuals with a means of managing their own recovery. It is internationally recognised as being successful for large numbers of individuals who actively use it.
Key elements of WRAP:
- Gathering a menu of Wellness Tools
- Creating a Daily Maintenance Plan
- Developing a step-by-step plan to deal with the challenges faced throughout the recovery process
For further information on WRAP you can watch our extended DVD chapter below “What is WRAP?”
Here the DVD participants give their own definitions of WRAP and personal examples of how they use the 8 different parts of WRAP or Wellness Recovery Action Planning. i.e.
1. Wellness Tools,
2. What am I like when I am well,
3. Triggers and Action Plans,
4. Early Warning Signs and Action Plans,
5. When Things are Breaking Down,
6. Crisis Planning and
7. Post Crisis Planning.
We also have some Recovery resources available to download in our Download section
You may also wish to visit the website www.mentalhealthrecovery.com for further information on WRAP
WRAP Values & Ethics are central to the application of WRAP and can be downloaded here.