“My Mind, My Health”

A program of the Montana Mental Health Association

One in four Montanans is at risk for mental illness this year. Unfortunately many will not receive help due to a significant shortage of community based services for mental health care. In order to support healthy lifestyles, to encourage early intervention and to avoid costly crisis-driven care, Montanans must have the tools to direct their own mental health care journey. Consumer driven models have proven successful in increasing knowledge of early warning signs/symptoms, knowledge of skills/tools for coping with early warning signs, use of wellness tools in daily routines, use of natural/community supports and level of hope for consumers regarding their own recovery process.

My Mind, My Health will provide training for mental health consumers in models of self directed health care using the “WRAP-Wellness Recovery Action Plan™” system. This training will be provided through a three-part program detailed below. Overall program goals include the following:

1. An increase in the number of people who experience longer periods of wellness, and who move on to enhance their lives, meet their life goals, and enjoy a sense of well-being and satisfaction with life;
2. A significant reduction in the need for mental health and emergency services, the devastating trauma that results from psychiatric crisis; and the intensity and duration of symptoms when they do occur.

WRAP Workshops

Three 2-day training workshops were offered in the fall and winter of 2005.  These comprehensive sessions provide one-to-one instruction on the WRAP Model including writing of personal Wellness Recovery Action Plans.

Attendance at the “Introduction to WRAP” session is a pre-requisite for participation. Class size is limited to 20 participants per workshop to insure adequate time for personal attention and planning. Travel and lodging expenses were paid for primary consumers to attend the workshop and workshop sites included each Service Area Authority (SAA) region. Over 40 individuals were trained in WRAP in the fall of 2005 in Missoula, Helena & Billings, providing geographical distribution across the SAA’s. Three more workshops were planned for the Summer of 2006.

                                   Evaluating WRAP

The first cycle of My Mind, My Health will conclude in the fall of 2006. Each participant will be contacted 3 months and 9 months after completion of the program. Post-training survey data will be collected from each participant to measure outcomes against the baseline data collected at the beginning of the program. In addition, participants will be asked to complete an Evaluation of the course, presenters, facilities, materials and outreach efforts at the conclusion of each training component.

Sustaining WRAP

Each participant completing the Facilitator Training will be requested to provide a minimum of 2 WRAP workshops in their home community within 12 months of completing this program. The MMHA will assist in program promotion, printing, supplies, and securing facilities as needed. It is our hope that this program will continue to grow within communities and become a fully integrated part of consumer treatment plans.

WRAP RESOURCES & LINKS

The Copeland Center

Mental Health Recovery (A Copeland Center Site)

Action Planning for Prevention & Recovery:
A Self-Help Guide (SAMHSA)

Consumer/Survivor Mental Health Information (SAMHSA)

Introduction to WRAP

This 120-minute program was provided free of charge to mental health consumers across Montana via interactive video conference. Many of the community mental health centers have video conference studios on site, and these locations were used wherever possible. This free training session provided an overview of the “WRAP-Wellness, Recovery, Action Plan” model for consumer driven mental health care and included these key concepts in recovery: Hope, Responsibility, Self-Advocacy, Education and Support. Issues discussed included exploring medical causes for mental health crisis and a discussion of medication management. A “Pre-Training Survey” was offered to all attendees and this data was used as a baseline for evaluation after completion of the program.

The session began with an introduction by MMHA staff, and concluded with a Question & Answer Forum. Facilitators were present at each location to distribute materials, gather contact information from participants and coordinate the question/answer forum. A minimum of 8 locations participated, including Great Falls, Helena, Missoula, Billings, Kalispell, Glendive, Glasgow and Havre.  On August 18, 2005 over 110 individuals were trained in 11 sites. The next “Intro to WRAP” web cast was on Wednesday May 24th from 6-8:30 pm in 24 sites across the state.

WRAP Expansion

To further expand the outreach of this powerful program, the MMHA sponsored a Facilitator Training in the fall of 2006. Individuals who had successfully completed the 2-day Workshop (or any other WRAP training session provided earlier by the MMHA) were eligible to attend this seminar. This five-day “Train the Trainer” program was conducted by the staff and trainers of the Copeland Center, founders of the WRAP Model.

Participants gained a deeper understanding of the recovery process and learned to:

• work with people who have experienced psychiatric symptoms to discover the strengths they have and can use to enhance their recovery;
• effectively share the underlying concepts necessary to recovery: hope, personal responsibility, education, self-advocacy, and support;
• work with individuals and groups to develop a Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP), a symptom monitoring and response system being used all over the world;
• teach about wellness tools and strategies, such as medication management, changing negative thoughts to positive, and developing a wellness lifestyle;
• empower and motivate people to work toward recovery - feeling the way they want to feel, making their lives the way they want them to be, and moving toward meeting their life goals;
• Use interaction and presentation styles and strategies that enhance recovery.

We limited the class size to 10 individuals: five teams of two.  Travel and lodging expenses were paid for primary consumers and the location were determined based on the geographic distribution of registrants.