Mary Ellen Copeland
Mary Ellen Copeland
Wrappin’ N Wrollin’ in Illinois
Nanette Larson
In May of 2002, three self-determined women ventured from Illinois to Vermont to complete the Recovery Education and Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP) Facilitator's Training course with Mary Ellen Copeland. Later that month, the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), hosted a Self-Determination Workshop on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. Mary Ellen Copeland was one of the guest speakers for the Self-Determination Workshop, presenting a three-hour overview of WRAP to an eager and interested audience. Although unintentional, it was the coming together of these two events that led to the eventual formation of the Illinois WRAP Steering Committee and the resulting initiative now known as "Wrappin' N Wrollin' in Illinois!" What a joy it is to be able to share a bit of our story with you!
I was one of the participants at the Self-Determination Workshop; my position at the time: "Acting Director of Consumer Services" for the Department of Human Services (DHS)/Division of Mental Health (DMH). Having read a bit about WRAP, I came eager to learn more. But it wasobserving the impact that this simple, yet profound, presentation of recovery and WRAP had on the members of the audience, that truly had me
'sold.' I could hardly contain my enthusiasm. Two of the women,Mary Jensen and Carol Vollendorf, who had been to Vermont, were colleagues of mine. They were there also, sharing in the energy. Also present was one of our DMH Network Managers, Dan Wasmer. His ebullience was just as evident. So there we stood, the four of us, on MichiganAvenue on a beautiful day in May, and we began to design the Illinois WRAP Steering Committee.
Our first event had to be planned quickly, as we wanted to build on the momentum of the Self-Determination Workshop. So, with less than three months to plan it, we scheduled a statewide event for August, 2002. "Wrappin' N Wrollin' in Illinois" was born! I will never forget the day I spoke with the DMH Director about this event. I handed her the brochure, still in draft form, to obtain her endorsement, and her first comment was, "I love the title!" We were fortunate to have the expertise of Charity Appel and Alan McNabb, Copeland Center Trainers, for this day-and-a-half event. Over one hundred people participated. Everyone who participated learned so much, and so did we!
One of the most significant things I learned, from the perspective of one who desired to see WRAP become a key element of service delivery in the overall mental health system, was how important it was to make distinctions between different 'levels' of WRAP education. For example, persons who had attended the 3-hour workshop in Chicago said they had been "trained in WRAP." Similarly, persons who attended the day-and-a-half workshop also said they had been "trained in WRAP." Most notably, the reference was intended to mean that they were now capable of facilitating WRAP groups. As a matter of fact, many people were sent to one or other of these workshops by a supervisor whose expectation was that they would return from the workshop, with the knowledge base necessary to begin running these groups. Of course, that 'level' of training had not yet occurred in Illinois. This was not something our Committee had taken into consideration, but we took quick action to remedy this. To help clarify the distinction between different types of WRAP training, we developed what is known as the "Levels of WRAP Education" system. This system provides clear differentiation between the various educational opportunities, pre-requisites, and what persons are qualified to do, once they have completed that
level of education.
Of course, now that the levels of education had been defined, it was time to get the next level offered! In December, 2002, we held our first week-long "Mental Health Recovery Education and WRAP Facilitators" training! Mary Ellen Copeland and Ed Anthes were the Copeland Center trainers for this event. This was a landmark statewide training in Illinois, marking the beginning of what we refer to as our "two-by-two" journey. Being such a large state, we are divided into geographic regions. At that time, we were separated into nine distinct geographic areas. As the maximum capacity for our Facilitator's Training was twenty, that meant each area of the state could send two people, with the host site receiving the two
additional spaces. The twenty graduates of that event were sent forth with the charge, "to make WRAP a reality" in the different areas of the state!
In February, 2003, Carol Vollendorf and I flew to Arizona for a week-long training on "Implementing WRAP and Recovery in Your Mental Health System," with Meta Services and Mary Ellen Copeland. Through this outstanding training, we were able to see both that our "Levels of WRAP Education" system had great potential, with a bit of polishing, and that our "two-by-two" approach could also work, but only if we were able to provide a bit of coaching and mentoring for those Facilitators. The best news for us was that we were not without our own mentors: the Copeland Center, Meta Services, and CONTAC were all on board to help us in Illinois, achieve our dreams!
Two more Facilitators events were held in 2003. Both had the support of Kathy Muscari, CONTAC, being on site to help mentor and coach our teams. Those two events resulted in: forty new facilitators trained, two persons trained to begin WRAP on the Deaf/Hard of Hearing unit at one of the state hospitals, and the first person trained to begin a pilot for Teen WRAP in Illinois! With great humility, I was honored to
accept the challenge of 'carrying the baton' for WRAP in Illinois at the end of that season, and in April, 2004, I had the privilege to participate in the National Speakers' Training and become a Senior Recovery Educator with the Copeland Center.
Since 2003, our state initiative has consisted of two Facilitator Training events each year, one for the Chicago area and one for Greater llinois. Additionally, two Refresher events are held each year. The
Refresher events provide new facilitators an opportunity to meet other facilitators in their area, and create opportunities for continuing education. A total of 164 facilitators have been trained across the state. Of those facilitators, over 50% regularly submit pre- and post-survey data for a statewide database to contribute to research concerning the impact of WRAP over time. In addition, a weekly Telecoaching call is provided, free of charge, for all facilitators in the state. These calls provide facilitators access to continuing education and mutual support. Catherine Dalton facilitates these weekly calls.
Now, you must keep in mind that this story is being written from the perspective of one who desires to see recovery and WRAP become a key element of service delivery in the overall mental health system. In
Illinois, the public mental health system consists of nine state hospitals, contracts with community hospital inpatient psychiatric units, and over 160 contracted community mental health centers. And, although training facilitators is an essential element, it is only one piece of the puzzle in achieving the dream. A large part of the work in the past year, therefore, has been focused on addressing major system changes necessary to see the dream realized. These range from changes in the Medicaid Rule, to changes in contract language that governs the state's relationship with community mental health agencies.
I close as I began. Chicago is indeed 'the windy city,' and the winds of change, with WRAP continue. Most significantly, this year we began the process of regionalizing our WRAP Training, and several of our
Recovery Educators, including Mary Jensen, Rhonda Keck and Carol Vollendorf, are doing great jobs coordinating events this year. Also, we are standardizing the certification process for Facilitators and Recovery Educators, and are well on our way to further legitimizing this emerging best practice. With the ongoing support of our DMH Director, Lorrie Jones, and Chief of Staff, Bob Vyverberg, we feel our positive outcomes have been considerable. And as I continue to tell our team, we're always "Wrappin' N Wrollin' in Illinois!"
With Wings as Eagles,
Nanette V. Larson
Director, Recovery Support Services
Illinois DHS/Division of Mental Health