A few weeks ago my Care Co-ordinator asked me if I would have a go at doing a WRAP. A Wellness Recovery Action Plan. I was a bit sceptical of yet another set of forms to fill in, but always willing to try anything that may help, I had a go.

I found it quite illuminating, the WRAP is split up into two parts. The first deals mainly with you. The second is a crisis plan to help others deal with you.

In the first part you are asked to examine yourself. You write about what you are like when you are well, what triggers you, how you can handle the triggers, what you can do when you get worse and how you know things have reached crisis point.

Thinking in detail about what makes us tick can sometimes be helpful in identifying when things are going wrong. I showed the WRAP to a friend and my daughter who both identified things that I do when things are not going well, things that I had not realised I did. One of these was that my face changed colour, something that I think is useful to share with my other friends and the professional team.

The second part of the WRAP is used to detail crisis management. Here you identify how others know that you need help and how they can help. For the first time I felt that I might be able to control how I wanted people to react, especially when things had reached a point where I or others may be in danger.

I will share my WRAP with my Care coordinator, the Crisis Team, my family and my close friends as I think that the more people know about what I am like when I am ill the more they will be able to help.

If you would like to write a WRAP you can download the form by following this link:

http://tinyurl.com/26p7ns5

Penny

A Moodscope user.