I feel so inspired by the WRAP for Health conference I attended yesterday! Mary Ellen Copeland, the author of Wellness Recovery Action Plan, was the keynote speaker. Her book, The Depression Workbook, really helped me in my own recovery process. Mary Ellen's work is focused on recovery and empowerment for people with mental health issues. When she was first beginning her own recovery, she researched what helped other people. She learned that the people she surveyed all were helped by these five key concepts of recovery: hope, personal responsibility, education, self advocacy, and support. It was wonderful to have the chance to thank her in person for her work.
I attended a session on some new programs that are intended to integrate primary medical care with mental health services. The reason for these programs are in response to a recent study reporting that people with severe mental illness (SMI) are dying 25-30 years earlier than the national average. Alameda County is responding with the 10 x 10 Campaign. According to the campaign website, the mission of this campaign is to "implement a holistic approach to increase life expectancy for persons with mental and substance use disorders by 10 years in 10 years." Some of the programs are bringing primary care to behavioral health clinics, while others are increasing the mental health services in medical clinics. These programs are inspiring to me, and I can see myself working in one. It's wonderful to get to be a part of an existing movement that's making things happen. I'm so happy that I moved back to California post Mental Health Services Act (MHSA)!
The second session I attended was about the Social Inclusion Campaign headed by PEERS. Though I didn't learn anything about the program I didn't already know, it was a great chance to witness the presenters stories and feel good about the connectedness in the room. I also got another idea for a workshop for PEERS. They seem to like my ideas, so look for my workshops on the PEERS calendar in the near future!
If you have the time and the inclination, I can't encourage you enough to get involved in the mental health consumer movement in Alameda County or wherever you live! Every event I attend inspires and motivates me. Like never before, I feel like I've found a home for the activist part of myself. ¡Viva la revolución!
That's really neat. We use the WRAP at the Crisis Residential Program here in Sac'to and a lot of people say it's the best part of the Program. All the exercises are together in a spiral-bound notebook for people to take home, which makes it a totally personalized self-help book. Pretty rad for when things get rough at home. I think people completing it together in a group format and sharing their coping strategies is good too. Eight-to-twelve heads is beter than one, right? Keep up the good works, B/T.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Holly! WRAP has definitely been part of my own recovery. I would have really liked to have other people to do it with! I'm so glad it's available more widely now!
Delete