Articles
Intentional Peer Support is a framework for thinking about and inviting transformative relationships among peers. Participants learn to use relationships to see things from new angles, develop greater awareness of personal and relational patterns, and support and challenge each other in trying new things. In this highly interactive workshop, we will explore the tasks and principles of IPS, what makes it unique, and how to begin using IPS to create social change.
This WRAP presentation will be about how to educate people coming home from prison on implementing WRAP and maintaining a better quality of life.
Learning Objectives:
1. Enhance people's knowledge about WRAP as a whole.
2. Educate the audience and each other on simple techniques for integrating WRAP with people who have forensic back grounds.
3. Come up with new styles of incorporating WRAP behind the prison walls.
WRAP Group agreements help put into practice the Values and Ethics that are essential to WRAP during the group learning process. I recently returned from an Advanced Level WRAP Facilitator Refresher training where there was a remarkable change in how we do agreements. The usual agreement often mimicked what we saw in other support groups, mainly in setting up rules for people to follow and with expressing individuals' requests of the group that helped make them feel comfortable.
Carol Bailey Floyd, Advanced Level WRAP Facilitator, wrote this piece about her father who was an inspiration to her and whom she shares about all the time. The Copeland Center is fortunate to have Carol reflect on her relationship and her WRAP after his passing.
When my Dad, Sherman Bailey, was in his eighties, I began to dread the time when he would pass away. Ever since I was a little girl, I loved hanging around with my Dad. He was charming, witty, intelligent, and fun. From as far back as I can remember, I followed him around helping him with chores and gardening. He was famous for his Bailey tomatoes and to me there was no better culinary delight than a red ripe tomato right out of his garden. Dad grew his last vegetable garden was when he was 95!
by Gina Calhoun
We often view people who learn outside the academic status quo as disabled. This has not been my experience. I had the honor to facilitate WRAP for people with developmental distinctions. Let me tell you a little about our group.
Trauma occurs when a person is overwhelmed by events or circumstances and responds with intense fear, horror, and helplessness. Extreme stressoverwhelms the person’s capacity to cope. There is a direct correlation between trauma and physical health conditions such as diabetes, COPD, heart disease, cancer, and high blood pressure.
There were many times in my life when I felt very inadequate. I didn’t feel worthy of a good life. I felt I was masquerading as a person who knew what she was doing. When other people praised me, I thought they were well-intentioned, but didn’t know the truth about me. From my point of view, the truth was that I was a massive mess, with very few skills, who was just pretending to be coordinating a worthwhile life.
That’s a pretty bold statement I know, but it is fitting because it’s absolutely true! I will attempt to paint the picture of a past life, littered with drug and alcohol use, exactly how it brought me to my knees, and how WRAP provided me with a set of all-encompassing tools that allowed for my health and sanity to be restored.
Strong values and ethics are the cornerstone of WRAP, Mary Ellen Copeland’s work, and Copeland Center trainings. Facilitators should understand these ethics before leading Mental Health Recovery and WRAP groups and workshops to ensure a supportive environment for learning.
By Carol Bailey Floyd
- I clearly remember in 2002, taking my first WRAP (Wellness Recovery Action Plan) workshop. When we got to the part about Wellness Tools, I was thrilled because I realized that for my whole life, I had done fun things when I was feeling good, and NOT done them when I was feeling low.