NEW from
Mary Ellen Copeland
New
Mental Health Recovery and WRAP Resources
representing the work of Mary Ellen Copeland and the thousands of people all over the world who have contributed so generously to this body of knowledge
Getting well and staying well is the focus of Mary Ellen Copeland - author, educator, and mental health recovery advocate. Mary Ellen’s work is based on the study of the day-to-day coping and wellness strategies of people who have experienced mental health difficulties. It centers on self-help, recovery, and long-term stability. Personally, Mary Ellen has experienced years of mental health difficulties and has achieved long-term wellness and stability using these strategies.
She has been dedicated to bringing recovery to others through her books, including the celebrated WRAP (Wellness Recovery Action Plan),CD's, DVD's, tapes and training programs - resources that, along with skills and strategies, teaches the values and ethics lessential to recovery that are being used in the world-wide mental health transformation movement. Her work has changed the basic tenets of mental health as she has convinced the world that people with mental health issues have can have hope, control over their lives, develop self-directed wellness plans, and recover, working toward meeting their own life dreams and goals.
Much of her work is focused on the importance of making lists of personal wellness tools and using these tools to write a personal wellness plan (WRAP), support and peer support, changing negative thoughts to positive, community integration, building self-confidence and self-esteem, relaxation and stress reduction, diet, exercise, focusing, and addressing trauma issues. This work can be your guide and provide guidance for your personal supporters, health care providers, agencies, mental health organizations and health care systems.
Key Recovery Concepts
There are five key recovery concepts that, through her research, Mary Ellen found to be essential to effective recovery work. They are:
Hope - People who experience mental health difficulties get well, stay well and go on to meet their life dreams and goals.
Personal Responsibility - It's up to you, with the assistance of others, to take action and do what needs to be done to keep yourself well.
Education - Learning all you can about what you are experiencing so you can make good decisions about all aspects of you life.
Self Advocacy -Effectively reaching out to others so that you can get what it is that you need, want and deserve to support your wellness and recovery.
Support - While working toward your wellness is up to you, receiving support from others, and giving support to others will help you feel better and enhance the quality of your life.
Wellness Recovery Action Plan™ (WRAP) for Veterans
and People in the Military
This WRAP book may be used for developing a WRAP on your own, with a supporter, or in a group.
This important book was adapted from the well-known and widely used book Wellness Recovery Action Plan. This version of the plan was developed with input and guidance from people who are currently serving in the military, vetarans, as well as people in military and veterans hospitals. While anyone can design and use their own WRAP, developing the plan with a supporter, in a group or even as a family increases options and understanding. WRAP has become an important tool for veterans and people in the military around the country in support groups and in hospitals.
If you are on active duty, in the reserves, or have been in the military, you may be having a hard time coping with the hardship, trauma, and loss related to military service and being involved in war-related activities. You may have feelings and symptoms that are extremely upsetting, that keep you from being the way you want to be and doing the things you want to do. In addition, things may be happening in your life that are difficult to deal with. Family members and friends, who don't understand what you are experiencing and why you are behaving the way you are, may not know how to respond or how to help. Some may try to help and others may turn away. You may feel like the situation is hopeless - that you will never feel well and enjoy life again.
The Wellness Recovery Action Plan can help you in the process of recovery, of getting well and staying well, and of assisting you in becoming who you want to be and making your life the way you want it. It will also be helpful to you in adapting to any challenges you have in your life like chronic illness, serious disability, being on active duty, or dealing with extreme loss or grief.
The WRAP Workbook for Kids 
With the help of two great kids, Hawk and Esther, this delightful book will guide a child through the process of developing their own Wellness Recovery Action Plan. It will help them discover all the things they can do to feel good, stay well, and even feel better when the going is hard. It starts with listing all those good and fun things that they can use to develop their action plans like running with the dog, coloring, and talking to a friend.
Then, using these tools, the book guides them through the process of listing:
What they need to do every day to stay healthy and well;
Things that might upset them and what they can do if these thigns do happen;
Signs that they are not feeling well and things they can do to help themselves feel better; and,
Signs that things are going really badly and things they can do to make the situation better.
Once they have completed their WRAP, they will have a powerful personal guide to daily living. As they get older they may want to revise or update their plans or develop new ones.
As children develop and use these plans, it helps to have supportive parents, teachers, and other adults who provide encouragement and praise as they grow, change, make good decisions, and take positive action on their own behalf.
Developing a WRAP is creative, fun, and life-changing for everyone involved.
Announcing the first of many E-learning courses
by Mary Ellen Copeland
This electronic learning course is an overview of the Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP)® written by Mary Ellen Copeland. It is designed for people who are helping others develop WRAP plans. While WRAP is a simple system, its use and the values and ethics that surround it are far-reaching and highly complex . Upon completion of this course you will be able to guide, facilitate, advise, support and encourage another person (patients, clients, peers, friends, family members) as they develop a Wellness Recovery Action Plan using the values and ethics that have evolved as people have used this mental health recovery innovation.
This course has been approved for continuing education credit from ANCC, ASWB, NBCC and many state specific accreditation bodies. Go to http://www.cequick.com/copeland to learn more.
About Mental Health Recovery and WRAP
Mental Health Recovery and WRAP was started in 1989 as Mary Ellen Copeland began her studies of how people help themselves, get well, and stay well. Her work received an important boost from the 1992 publication of the best-selling Depression Workbook. The Workbook, now a keystone in mental health circles, was the result of interviews with hundreds of people and years of research. Mary Ellen has continued these studies and now works with a highly competent and skilled staff and experts from around the country. She currently has 20 books and CD's that heve been widely distributed all over the world.
The mission of Mary Ellen Copeland Mental Health Recovery and WRAP is to promote personal, organizational, and community wellness and empowerment.
The focus is on shifting the system of mental health care toward prevention and recovery. As the system shifts to enact reform through education, training, and research we use the accomplishments developed and implemented by the people being served and the people who care for them. This is reinforced by building networks that reflect mutual support and community organizational empowerment - concepts that are changing the face of mental health recovery.
Her work is based on the values of hope, self-determination, personal empowerment, and responsibility; focusing on strengths rather than deficits, education, simple and safe non-invasive responses, and the use of natural systems of support
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