by Larry Drain
This has been a great week in many ways. One of the highlights for me has been going through WRAP training. My mind is literally buzzing with ideas and thoughts from it. I found confirmation of many of the things I had already knew and believed, but many other things I had not known or thought about and a way to package it all that was very useable and impacting. My instructor was Sheryl McCormick who is well known throughout the state of Tennessee and she was great. I left massively pumped up. Next week I do the facilitator training and I can hardly wait.
The thing I liked most was the first word- WELLNESS. It was not simply about symptom management, although there was a lot about that. There was a vision that wellness – good times, good experience, a better you- was possible, not just for me, but for you and everyone. It is the difference between solving a problem and building a solution. Sounds like the same thing, but it is not.
They asked the question, “What are you like when things are going good?” And they asked me to look at every aspect of my living. It hit me like a thunderbolt how often I have forgot what it was like or it seemed so far away I would never get there again.
It makes sense. Building a stronger life, a life of resilience and hope does not so prevent problems as much as it makes them more unlikely and when they do occur gives you some resources to deal with them. There is a big difference between me depleted and me fully functioning.
What do you do when things are going well? What are the givens of a good space in life? What is going on? What are you doing? The daily maintenance plan that flows from this is simply a way to nurture, grow, and protect yourself.
How often in the urgency of everyday do you forget this? For me a lot. Sometimes you get so busy paying attention you forget to pay attention. The purpose of a daily maintenance plan is to pay attention to how well you take care of yourself and nurture yourself and the people around you.
There is so much to say. Many of my posts from here on will undoubtedly be influenced by what I have learned in WRAP. It is a great experience and I recommend it to all. It works if you work it and I hope you will.
A final note. Over 6000 people have been through WRAP training in Tennessee thanks to the efforts of Sheryl and many others. At the same time the rate of hospital utilization has dropped. Something to think about. Something to think a lot about.
Larry Drain is an Advanced Level Facilitator in Tennessee.You can visit him at www.hopeworkscommunity.wordpress.com.
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.
