WRAP® for People with Developmental Distinctions
Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP) is an evidence-based program that helps people learn how to self-manage their mental health and wellness. WRAP® for People with Developmental Distinctions is an adaptation of the flagship WRAP: specially created for adults who have their own unique way of learning and/or communicating. It uses a workbook designed to support adults with developmental distinctions through a process of creating their own plan to live a happier and healthier life. The workbook was co-authored by a WRAP Advance Level Facilitator who is the mother of a child with IDD and WRAP’s developer Dr. Mary Ellen Copeland, with input from four adults with IDDMH. The workbook includes real-life examples from these 4 adults who went through the WRAP process. It emphasizes safe, simple tools and strategies that are more cognitively accessible to people with cognitive limitations. It is also compatible with other treatment programs.
The program is designed to help participants:
1) discover their own simple, safe wellness tools;
2) develop a daily plan to help them stay as well as possible;
3) identify upsetting events or circumstances and develop action plans for responding to them; and
4) create a strategy to gain support and stay in control of their wellness during and after a crisis.
The program can also be used as a plan to support a person to reach a self-identified life goal. The workbook includes real-life examples from four experts—Rachel, Nikki, Sue, and Christopher—who contributed to the program’s development and are living WRAP in their own lives as adults with developmental distinctions
The WRAP Workbook for People with Developmental Distinctions is available here. It can be used individually or in conjunction with an evidence-based WRAP group focused on adults with developmental distinctions:
https://www.wellnessrecoveryactionplan.com/product/wrap-for-people-with-developmental-distinctions/.
In addition to the manual, the Copeland Center has produced 2 webinars that introduce listeners to WRAP for People with Developmental Distinctions, describing how WRAP works, its evidence base, how it has been adapted for people with IDD-MH, and how to use the manual with people with IDD-MH.
WRAP for People with Developmental Distinctions Part 1
WRAP for People with Developmental Distinctions Part 2
BETA Illinois Dual Diagnosis Training Initiative 