People with a serious illness, injury, disease, or disorder can use a wellness recovery action plan to restore health after a crisis. These plans can help anyone, but are particularly useful for young adults with mental health disorders help the people around them understand what to do if they have a mental health crisis.
Around the holidays, we suggest parents of college students or young adults develop a specific wellness recovery action plan in case a crisis occurs over the holidays, when college students return home for winer break, and young adults return home to participate in family events.
Why Make A Crisis Plan?
Mental, physical, psychological, and emotional wellness are key elements in living a fulfilling and productive life. However, when things go wrong, it’s important to understand how to regain balance and find your way back to a state of wellness. One time-tested way to achieve this is by taking the personal initiative to create a personalized Wellness Recovery Action Plan, known among mental health professionals and social service workers as a WRAP.
The Origin of the WRAP: How Wellness Action Plans Began
In the early 1990s, a therapist – Dr. Mary Ellen Copeland – became frustrated with the state of psychiatric treatment she experienced both as a patient and as a treatment provider. In the 90s, the medical/psychiatric establishment prioritized using medications to manage symptoms of mental health disorders, rather than focusing on helping people return to a state of total health and wellness.
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as follows:
“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”
This definition teaches us that health in the context of mental health means more than the absence mental health symptoms. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) outlines what total health means for all people, regardless of their diagnosis, and their goals for every citizen of the U.S.:
- Help people living fulfilling lives
- Reduce disease, disability, injury, and premature death
- Promote quality of life and healthy behavior in all areas of life
The goals of the CDC and the definition of health provided by the WHO are exactly what was missing from mental health care, according to Dr. Copeland. To solve this problem, Dr. Copeland conducted a survey of mental healthcare providers in her professional network to learn whether they saw the same problem, and what they could do about it.
Her peers agreed, and based on their input, she identified “five key concepts to recovery,” which include:
- Hope
- Personal responsibility
- Education
- Self-advocacy
- Support
Based on this momentum, Dr. Copeland and colleagues convened at a retreat in rural Vermont in 1997, workshopping the following topics:
- How to achieve and maintain wellness
- Practical daily tools and skills that promote wellness
- How to define wellness
- How to identify triggers or stressors
- Techniques to recognize when things are off/overwhelmed
- Specific action plans for when you feel off/overwhelmed
- How to correctly identify when you’re in a crisis
- How to respond when you realize you’re in crisis
- How to creates crisis plan – and what to include in the crisis plan
It’s important to understand this group of providers also had mental health challenges of their own, which means they based their conclusions both on their lived experience as people with mental health disorders and on their direct professional experience as mental health professionals.
The outcome of the retreat was a template for what we now call a Wellness Recovery Action Plan, or a WRAP.
What’s in a WRAP?
We’ll share a template for an effective Wellness Recovery Action Plan below. We strongly advise parents of young adults with mental health disorders to create a WRAP in case a crisis occurs. Since the holidays are around the corner, this may be a good time to collaborate on a WRAP ahead of a holiday visit.
A personalized WRAP can be invaluable in a time of crisis, and should include the following information:
- List of Phone numbers:
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- Therapist
- Psychiatrist
- healthcare providers
- List of People who can help:
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- Family members
- Friends
- Recovery peers
- Phone numbers for the people who can help
- Emergency Addresses:
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- Walk-in crisis centers
- Emergency rooms
- Crisis Contact Info:
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- 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: Dial988
- Text988
- Local Mobile Crisis Unit, if applicable
- Their home address and current contact info
- Your address and current contact info
- Their medical info:
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- Previous crises
- History of suicidality
- History of alcohol/substance use
- Mental health support lists:
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- List of triggers that increase risk of relapse/crisis
- List of things that have helped during crises
When you make a WRAP with a family member with a mental health disorder, make sure you have all the information above. It can help smooth out the process of de-escalating a crisis and can help any professionals who may become involved – from psychiatric providers to police officers – understand what’s going on, what to avoid, and most importantly, what can help to resolve and de-escalate the crisis.
Who Benefits From a Wellness Recovery Action Plan?
While this article is geared toward families with a young adult or teen with a mental health disorder, the experts at the WRAP foundation indicate a WRAP plan can help:
- People facing difficult life changes
- People experiencing addiction
- Victims of trauma/traumatic experience
- People with legal issues
- Military veterans experiencing challenges upon discharge
- Families in crisis or simply navigating family life
- Youth and children handling the ups and downs of growing up, from peer relationships to schoolwork to family problems
The thing that connects people in these situations is this: they all can benefit from the presence of a clear, detail-oriented, action plan to help them move from where they are to where they want to be. In a crisis situation, it means de-escalating the crisis until it’s over. In non-crisis situations, it means having a plan to help people – anyone, anytime – live life the way they want to live, make choices that align with their desires, and increase their chances at overall health and wellness.
The WRAP Template: What a Wellness Recovery Action Plan Looks Like
We adapted this template from information available online at the WRAP website. Use this to create a WRAP for your college student or young adult, or use this as a guide to create a version that meets the specific needs of your family members:
1. This is how my life looks, and I look, when I’m doing well.
- This is most often a list that includes work, friends, favorite activities, and self-care habits
2. This is how my life looks look things become too much.
- This is often defined by the absence of thing in item 1 on this list
3, If my actions harm/have a negative effect on people in my life, I encourage people in my support system to do the following.
- Include specific action steps
4. If I’m I crisis, this is who I want around me.
- Include specific names.
5. If I’m in a crisis, these people should not be around, or involved in any decisions.
- Include specific names
6. If people in my support system disagree about how to proceed, I want them to resolve it like this.
- Include details, such as “defer to mom, do what my therapist says, my oldest sister has final word.”
7. If I’m in crisis, please help me by making sure I have (these are possible examples):
- Medication
- Access to my therapist
- Access to treatment facilities
- People from my support list directly involved
8. If I’m in a crisis, please do not do the following.
- Include specifics
9. If I’m in a crisis and can’t meet my daily responsibilities, here’s what needs taking care of until my crisis passes (three possible examples):
- Bills to pay, if applicable
- People to inform, e.g. employers
- Pets to feed
20. My support network can stop following the WRAP when they see the following:
- Specific list of indicators the crisis is over
This will take time and energy, but it’s worth it. Having a WRAP in place can make a crisis less intimidating and help create a clear path forward during a difficult time. But most importantly, a good WRAP can reduce the risk of emotional, psychological, and physical harm, both for the person in crisis and the entire family.
