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| Recovery Series Booklet 2 |
Wellness Recovery Action Planning
How to Look after Yourself 
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WELLNESS RECOVERY ACTION PLANS -
Known as WRAPs
A way of recovering from emotional and mental distress:
People who experience emotional distresses or 'psychiatric symptoms' are often keen to find safe, effective things that they can do for themselves that will improve their wellbeing and quality of
life.
One way that people are finding useful is WRAP:WRAP can help you keep yourself well. It guides us how to identify and monitor our signs and symptoms and encourages the use of safe, personal skills, supports and strategies to reduce or eliminate
the impact of distressing experiences.
WRAP is not meant to replace professional support but to complement it, though it has been found to shift the focus in mental health towards a self management approach and away from dependency. |
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Who is this booklet for?
WRAP is useful for everyone. It is a way of maintaining and improving your quality of life on a daily basis. It's particularly useful if your well-being is being threatened by life events. WRAP puts
you firmly in the driving seat in your life, not in the passenger seat, nor in the back of the car and certainly not in the boot!
What is Wrap?
WRAP is a plan that helps you focus on the detail of what you can do for yourself, when you want to improve your emotional, mental, physical and social well-being - however difficult or stressful
your life is currently. WRAP can also be used in many other situations, such as dealing with a physical illness or disability, improving or ending a relationship, dealing with an addiction, losing
weight, looking after yourself at work, keeping yourself well when you are a carer, moving house, anything... |
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How Can You Help Yourself with Wrap?
WRAP is based on the fact that you know yourself best. You are your own expert by experience on what brings you down or makes life difficult and equally you know best the ways you can live life to
the full. No one else can tell you what to do to make yourself feel good. Remember it is you that knows yourself best. Of course other people's ideas and useful therapies may be of immense value to
you as part of your Plan.
Wellness Recovery Action Plans have been used across the world and have enabled millions of people to take control of their lives, in a way they previously thought impossible.
How do you get started?
WRAP invites you to write things down about yourself. So, most people start by getting themselves a ring binder, a set of section dividers and some blank paper.
People find that starting their WRAP is best done when they're feeling okay, they are in comfortable surroundings and have a bit of time to think. There is no time pressure with WRAP, you can take
as long as you like. And if you find WRAP useful, you'll go on adding to it, so it never stops.
People find that developing and using WRAP with someone else or a number of other people is important. Sharing ideas about wellness is a good way of learning and growing.
WRAP is based on a number of key Recovery concepts:
- Hope - people with mental health problems DO get better
- Personal responsibility - you are in charge of your own life and can make choices that will improve your well-being
- Self advocacy - you can work out what you want from your life and can let people know about what that is and how you intend to get there
- Education - learning about wellness and wellness tools from pamphlets, books, the internet, and most importantly directly from other people is important
- Support - we all need the support of positive people we can be ourselves with
A WRAP plan is split up into a number of sections. This booklet will introduce you to the framework of WRAP. If you want to know more about it there are some ideas about getting
further information at the back of this booklet. |
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Section 1 -
Wellness Tools
These are the things that you do to keep yourself well, and the things you do to help yourself feel better when you don't feel well. You may have discovered them yourself or learned about them from
others. Most of them are simple, safe and free.
Examples might include:
- Going for a walk
- Listening to music
- Talking with a good friend
- Taking a hot bath
- Going for a swim
- Meditation
- Digging the garden
- Writing a diary or a journal
- Going to the cinema with a friend
Recently in a group of 20 people working on their WRAPs, between us we came up with 180 wellness tools that we were using!
What I'm like when I'm well
It is important for us to know who we really are when we're well. Some people have been stressed or distressed for so long that they've almost forgotten. Making a list of our positive
characteristics helps us see ourselves for who we really are. The rest is really a reaction or a defence against stress and difficulty. It also helps us see the person that we might like to get back
to being. For most people this is a collection of adjectives like... calm, curious, fun, optimistic, quiet, outgoing, sociable, practical, vulnerable, silly, busy...
...but only you can describe yourself! |
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Section 2 -
Daily Maintenance Plan
This is a collection of things you know that you need to do for yourself every day, to keep yourself feeling good and well. Of course, they are different for everybody and the following are examples:
- Eat three healthy meals
- Take some exercise
- Spend at least a quarter of an hour in peace and quiet
- Talk to somebody you can feel "real" with
You also might make a list of things that you might need to do, especially if things are getting difficult, such as:
- Get a massage
- Spend time with a good friend
- Get a haircut
- Get more sleep
- Plan some fun
You can also put in this WRAP section other helpful reminders:
- 'New Wellness Tools that I would like to try'
- 'New Wellness Tools that I am trying now'
- 'Things I should like to avoid or cut down on.'
Supporters
One of the most effective ways to deal with difficulty or uncomfortable feelings is to reach out and get the support of another person, telling them how you are feeling or sharing an activity with
them.
Many of us do have loving family members and good friends who like us, listen to us and readily give us support. They may be with us when we need to express our feelings, without judging or
criticising us. But it is a common experience that when we start feeling unwell, a lot of us begin to feel quite isolated and alone. Sometimes we start to believe we are the only people in the world
this is happening to and we are on our own. And sometimes, we even isolate ourselves - not answering the phone and not reaching out to make contact with our supporters, for example. In your WRAP,
you can identify your supporters and carers and what they have to give you, so you never need feel alone.
You are likely to be a supporter for other people too of course. In recovery everyone is a giver and receiver - of support, ideas and knowledge. You have a lot more to offer to others than you can
imagine. You can become a 'recovery guide' for others, even when you are using your Plan to keep yourself well, in the face of difficulty. |
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Section 3 -
Triggers
So, now you have plenty of Wellness Tools to use - plenty of ways in which you can maintain your emotional, physical and social well-being - now to make a plan of how these tools can be used when
life gets difficult.
WRAP invites you to look at your triggers - actions, situations or people outside of yourself that may make you feel uncomfortable. They may make you think that you are at risk of "getting ill". But
actually these are normal reactions to events in our lives, and if we don't respond to them, or deal with them in some way, they might actually cause your distress to get worse.
Triggers can be anything, here are some examples:
- The anniversary of a loss
- Not getting enough sleep
- Being judged or criticised
- A physical illness
- Family friction
- Spending too much time alone
Triggers Action Plan
Now you know what your triggers are, you can make a plan to deal with each of them, if they come up, to stop them provoking a more serious reaction. So, for example, you might:
- Make sure you do everything on your Daily Maintenance Plan
- Call a supporter and ask them to listen, while you talk about the situation
- Do some breathing or relaxation exercises
- Try working on changing negative thoughts to positive ones
- Take some exercise, go for a walk
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Section 4 -
Early Warning Signs
In spite of our best efforts at reducing our distress, we still might begin to notice some early warning signs. These are our experiences inside ourselves - thoughts and feelings. Everyone has
different early warning signs in their reaction to triggers - so it is important to identify what yours are.
Again, these early warning signs may make you think you are "getting ill", and they could be considered "symptoms", but they are in fact normal reactions to stressful situations. Some early warning
signs that people have reported are:
- Anxiety
- Forgetfulness
- Feeling slowdown or speeded up
- Being obsessed with something that really doesn't matter
- Increased irritability
- Increased smoking
- Weepiness
- Feeling worthless or inadequate
- Feeling abandoned or rejected
- Racing thoughts
Early Warning Signs Action Plan
Now that you know what your early warning signs are, you can make a plan to deal with them. You can make a list of things you must do such as:
- Do everything on your Daily Maintenance Plan, whether you feel like it or not
- Tell a supporter or counsellor about your feelings
- Spend at least an hour doing something from your Wellness Tools list
...and many more.
When things are getting worse or breaking down
At this stage, you must act to prevent crisis, and you need to use more of your wellness tools.
The next section lists the sort of signs that you know show that things are getting even more difficult for you. They might include:
- Staying in bed all day
- Drinking more
- Cutting yourself off from friends and supporters
- Not eating
- Not sleeping
- Feeling that there is no hope
If any of this type of thing comes up for you, you do need a plan. It might include things such as:
- Get in touch with your doctor or other health or social care professional
- Phone and talk for as long as you need to one of your main supporters
- Make arrangements to be with somebody until you are feeling better
- Take action, so that you cannot hurt yourself - perhaps giving your medicines, chequebook or car keys to a supporter
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Section 5 - Crisis Planning
If you have been unable to return to wellness by using the Wellness Recovery Action Plan, you might need to make a Crisis Plan. You need to make this part of the plan when you are feeling well, so
that if a crisis does occur its effects will be diminished. It is likely to be a time when others have to step in and take care and responsibility for you and parts of your life. This might be a
time when you are in hospital for example. This Crisis Plan is a little more complicated and you would certainly need to do it along with other people. A Crisis Plan is a list of instructions and
wishes that you would hope would guide other people's actions to support you.
For example it might include such things as:
- Ask my friend or supporter to pick up the children
- If I am anxious, it helps if you take me for a walk
- If I talk about harming myself, please do everything to make sure that I am safe
- I may need sleep and I'm okay about being given a sleeping pill
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Section 6 -
Post Crisis Planning
In your WRAP, you may wish to write down a plan for when you are returning to your normal life after a crisis - a timetable by which you can successfully take back control of your life. It is
important for this part of the plan to recognise the pace at which you want to go - not too quickly or slowly - so that you can heal and mend in a way that is best for you.
It is a time when getting the help of your supporters is likely to be very important.
HOPE IS THE KEY TO RECOVERY |
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With acknowledgement to Alain Topor
Produced in partnership with
Wirral Department of Adult Social Services Published September 2007
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Wirral Carers