Is any here familiar with - WRAP Wellness Recovery Action Plans -

An assortment of "how it could work in a correctional setting" have appeared in a couple forums I've seen. The Hawaii Women's Prison Trauma-Informed programming was noted, I believe, by the SPSCOT listserve. The Council of State Government's Criminal Justice/Mental Health Consensus Project just had an item on Trauma-Informed Juvenile Justice initiatives and funding. The California (Men's Trauma-Informed) Honor Prison is discussed in Susan Lawrence, M.D.'s book: "Creating A Healing Society: [extensive ACE study references/"trauma-Informed" programming in the Honor Prison]. The Editor of the book was serving a life sentence at the Honor Prison....  Wellness Recovery Action Plans are usually 'self-directed' and the privacy afforded peers in Consumer-run peer support centers, is significantly different than "privacy in a correctional setting"

I have those on my list of "must read" !!  the more I look the more I see this as a solution to our recidivism rate and a way to manage our $1 billion DOC budget !!! With only 18 000 people in our prison system there has to be a way to use that money better and get a better success rate than 50% !!!

What a shame about the Prison Honor Program. More details on why it closed here. Apparently some were allowed to stay in the program:

Aug 20, 2012: "As you all know, after an intense lobbying effort led by The Steering Committee for the Honor Program and the Friends and Families for the Honor Program that included thousands of letters, emails, and numerous other contacts, as well as an online petition and strong, behind-the-scenes support from elected officials and other persons of influence, the Progressive Programming Facility is now a Level III.  The remaining Level IV prisoners who want to stay a part of the program will be granted an override and allowed to stay."

http://www.prisonhonorprogram.org/

I had heard about it but not spent much time researching it ... Looking at it after seeing your post I am wondering if and how this could work in a correctional setting ??? 

In the first year the California Honor Prison operated, it is estimated to have saved Calif. taxpayers $200,000 in an assortment of factors like lowered violence incident rates compared to general population where gang membership is permitted. Honor prison participants renounce gang membership..... Cost effectiveness, and lower recidivism were not concerns when they decided to "administratively close" the honor prison and transfer all the prisoners to General population.

I am familiar with WRAP (Wellness Recovery Action Plans). It is quite common among Consumer-Run Trauma-Informed Intentional Peer Support "peers". My former VR counselor, brought a "trauma-informed" sense to the job, and I believe looked at/reviewed part of my WRAP plan once early on in our relationship, ....but he left NH VR in January, to work at Vermont Voc Rehab. Ann Jennings in the Maine agency (Mental health/substance abuse and trauma) handling "trauma-informed" issues, may be familiar with WRAP also. It (WRAP) was developed by Mary Ellen Copeland of (I believe) Dummerston, Vermont, and collaborated on in part, by Shery Mead then of Plainfield, NH (I was told Shery recently moved to Burlington, Vt.) whose  website is [www.] MentalHealthPeers [.com or org]. WRAP plan facilitator trainers are certified (Our Program Coordinator at Stepping Stones/Next Step Peer Support Centers is one of two used by the State of New Hampshire to train facilitators)

Thanks Robert.  I had not heard of this particular tool and wondered what others knew about it.  It seems it can be self directed on-line by anyone who wants to develop a Wellness Recovery action plan.  http://www.mentalhealthrecovery.com/e-learning/build.php

There are also some great webinar topics that I hope to review in the near future Information is available at http://www.mentalhealthrecovery.com/e-learning/webinars.php

As rehabilitation counselor, I believe that our whole country was traumatized by 9/11 and many people were/are still in denial. While this is designed specifically for individuals with mental health challenges, given our current cultural transition in health care, wellness, mindfulness this seems a potential tool for ANYONE who is struggling with their next step to wellness.  Just a thought.  Thanks for your response.

Hi Steve -- I just posted info about an upcoming webinar that looks at how the criminal justice system is using WRAP.

It also has a link to more info about WRAP.

-- J.

Thank You Steve,

     I concur with you about 9/11, and the use of WRAP (NH offers Consumer-Run Trauma-Informed Intentional Peer Support [which uses WRAP] to "Anyone AT RISK OF  a mental health challenge". ...  Perhaps I need to relocate to Maine or Vermont for trauma-informed Voc Rehab! My previous counselor left and went to work in Vermont.     

    We have a 30% Annual Turnover rate in our state (NH) 9-1-1 operators, last time I checked, in spite of them getting "clinical supervision"; they handle a lot of "little 9/11 events" although Mass Casualties like 9/11 get more press coverage-which may have contributed to our whole country being traumatized, as network programming is probably not decided by journalist members of ISTSS. I saw an item recently that military recruiters may now screen potential recruits for ACEs-which they feel may predispose applicants to combat PTSD.

     At least Federal Jurors now have Employee Assistance Programs to help them with Juror Stress-as the federal courts consider jurors as employees during the time they serve. A five day "trauma-informed" crisis/respite, with EMDR certified clinicians, for most "First Responders" (I don't know if they include dispatchers and 9-1-1 operators) throughout the nation is now available at the OnSite Academy in Gardner, Massachusetts.

The recent "Offender Trauma Study Proves Useful-Pennsylvania" posted by Chris Engel 10/7/2013 at 7:45pm may be worth a read, too!