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What Is Wellness recovery Action Plan? Everything You Need To Know About This Brilliant Initiative
WRAP or Wellness Recovery Action Plan is a recovery system that is completely based on our self-management skills. It was initially formulated and designed by a group of people who had been facing issues related to depression and mental health. It was created by the author, Mary Ellen Copeland, and founded in 1997.
These people who suffered from mental illness were looking for some tools and strategies that can lead to overcoming their mental health difficulties. As you know the basic needs of individuals lead to great inventions, discoveries, and initiatives that can do a lot of good changes to society.
WRAP is also known as mental health recovery plan and was designed to perform the following four main functions in the lives of citizens that faced mental health predicaments and illness. The main functions are:
- Achieve an improved quality of life.
- To raise standards of personal or our own empowerment.
- To prevent and de-escalate the troubling and intrusive behavior, feelings, or thoughts that harms an individual mentally taking away the peace.
- To help all people achieve their goals in life and fulfill all the dreams they have.
Talking more scientifically you may think of the Wellness Recovery Action Plan as an organized system designed to monitor the distressing and uncomfortable signs or symptoms that will be proved beneficial to eliminate, reduce, and overcome these symptoms via a planned response.
It is important to address the problems, make plans, and stay safe from uncomfortable situations that may occur at any time.
It has been used by a lot of people all over the world and the common statements given by people will inspire you to adopt WRAP. People have said that the Wellness recovery action plan helped them to be prepared and overall happiness in their lives increased after adopting WRAP, which is a piece of great news to motivate many of us.
Let me answer all your questions regarding the Wellness recovery action plan In brief.
How Do You Write A Wellness Recovery Action Plan?
As we know it is a self-designed plan that assists us to feel better about our lives and gives us a sense of responsibility regarding our lives which leads to improved quality overall. The very first part or initial phase of the wellness recovery action plan is to develop a personal toolbox for wellness. This comprises listing important resources that will help you develop a wellness recovery action plan that would be useful.
For the first phase of listing resources, you may take help or contact supporters, friends, family, peer canceling, etc. WRAP is divided into various sections of steps to help you understand better how to design your own WRAP.
Section 1: It includes Daily Maintainance Plan. This section is divided into 3 sub-sections that include.
- A specification of yourself when you are in a good state of mind or well.
- You have to incorporate all the wellness tools you are aware of in your routine.
- Prepare a list of important things that you may need on any day.
Section 2: This step includes the Identification of triggers. Note all the situations that make the steps mentioned in section 1 weak. Find something that may trigger you. It may be small arguments with your friends, huge bills you have to pay, or other possible triggers. Using wellness tools as a source, create a plan of wellness for yourself.
Section 3: Look for Early warning signs in this step. Note the subtle signs that you think are making you feel worse. It may include a feeling of immense nervousness or you are unable to sleep at night. Again create a plan noting down these early warning signs and create a plan to fight these symptoms as early as possible.
Section 4: when you feel things are breaking down. In this step, you can note down the things that are difficult to deal with and causing you great sadness for a very long time. You may feel upset for days altogether and hear voices in your brain. In such a case you have to create a wellness recovery action plan that is effective against all kinds of saddening feelings and helps you feel better as soon as possible. Create 2-3 plans at a time so that you are always left with alternatives if one plan does not give you the desired results.
Section 5: Here comes the Advance Directive or Crisis Plan. Here comes the plan that involves other people close to you. If in case the wellness plans till section 4 are not giving you the utmost results you have to go for this. You have to look for those signs that will help your close ones know that it is their time to take responsibility now and help you. When things seem totally out of control and you cannot fix everything by yourself, stay at home with others and let them know it is their time to take care of your health and wellness.
This is a kind of proactive advanced planning that is proven to be effective when your will power becomes quite weak.
Section 6: This is the Post Crisis Plan. Now that you have people helping you out by taking your responsibility, this will make you feel better over time. After being mentally well, prepare a wellness toolbox of things that made you feel okay. You should be able to get a clearer scenario of things happening around you.
Review all your plans every day taking extra time until you become well versed with your plans. Although, this process will take a lot of time, do not give up and leave the procedure as it is.
To all the people who have noted and used these plans on a daily basis, Cheers to your growth and improved mental health. Others can start using them now and see the benefits after following the first few wellness tools consistently.
How To Use the Wellness recovery Action Plan effectively.
If you have made your mind to use this extremely effective and life-changing plan, know that you have already stepped closer to great mental health. In order to start, you have to spend 20 minutes daily on your plan. By following the steps given below, you can make your plan easily.
For 15 to 20 minutes (not a huge time to take care of your personal well-being) review all the pages you have written and note that if something is triggering you or making you sad so that you can take the required action at the required time.
Most people following the Wellness recovery action plan have mentioned that they read their plan in the morning every day and this has made the process quicker and easier for them.
Begin with the daily maintenance plan given in section 1 of preparing the Wellness recovery action plan. If you feel everything is okay and nothing has triggered you, go for reading all the sections. In case you are unhappy over something, follow the steps that lead to post-crisis.
What Are The Important Features Of Writing A Wellness Recovery Action Plan?
There are mainly five key features or concepts of writing the wellness recovery action plan. These include:
- Personal responsibility: You have to realize that your happiness is in your hands and you are the foremost important person responsible for your mental health. Realizing this will give you confidence and a sense of empowerment. Keep this in mind while creating your WRAP plan.
- Hope: A small word with very crucial significance. It is important to know and understand that there is no particular time at which you will recover completely. Some people recover early while some take extra time. Your happiness is very important and for that, you have to keep hope. If followed consistently, nothing will stop you from reaching your goals.
- Self Advocacy: It is the ability through which you reach out to other people in your family or friends for help. You have to believe in yourself and stand bravely in front of others to convey a message that it is their responsibility as well to take care of you. This shows them your determination towards your happiness and goals.
- Education: This education doesn’t refer to school or college studies, instead it refers to the education of yourself about your health. It is very important to note the issues and learn the necessary things about them before creating a wellness recovery action plan. Also when you learn about your mood, thoughts, and feelings, it becomes easier to keep WRAP in mind.
- Support: Create space around you for people to join you and seek for helping hand. Socializing with different types of people and sharing your problems while listening to theirs can open different perspectives of lives you never knew before. This will result in inspiration.
What Are Wellness Recovery Action Plan Tools?
We have talked about every aspect of a wellness recovery action plan including the main features and procedures to create a WRAP for yourself. A term called Wellness recovery action plan tools has been used a lot of times in the passage above. Let me guide you through some important tools of WRAP.
- Talk to a professional health care person.
- Exchange listening and peer counseling.
- Write a journal of your day to day activities.
- Follow a good diet
- Take extra rest
- Go to attending a support group.
- Perform stress reduction and relaxation exercises or Yoga
- Spend quality time with family and take off from your busy schedule.
- Talk to your friends as many people find it very useful when they share the issues with similar age group people.
- Unpopular but effective, wear your favorite or new clothes and get ready neatly.
- Be with someone that makes you laugh.
- Play your favorite music and dance if you feel low.
- Consider taking a warm bath.
- Appreciate everything happening around you.
- Be grateful for your family, friends, and everything you own.
These were some important things you should be knowing about the Wellness recovery action plan that may help you decide how to adopt WRAP in your life.
