(Whitby, Ontario) November  18, 2013 – Durham Mental Health Services (DMHS) to provide a new mental health program, called the Wellness Recovery Action Plan™, for the area served by the Central East Local Health Integration Network (CE LHIN) area.

The Wellness Recovery Action Plan™ is more commonly known as WRAP™.   It is a self-managed mental health recovery system that was developed by a group of people who had mental health difficulties, and who wanted to incorporate wellness strategies into their lives.  They designed WRAP™ to focus on wellness,decrease and prevent intrusive or troubling feelings and behaviors, increase personal empowerment, improve quality of life, and assist people in achieving their own life goals and dreams.  WRAP™ includes planning for when and how to get help from others when it is necessary.

Durham Mental Health Services is the lead mental health agency that provides peer support in the CE LHIN area.  It has received funding to provide ten WRAP facilitators across the CE LHIN in five different agencies and hospitals.  The facilitators will teach others about how to apply the WRAP concept.

Ann Thompson is an Advanced Level WRAP Facilitator who provides WRAP Facilitator training across Ontario.  She also teaches in the School of Social Work at York University and helped with the launch of the WRAP™ in the CE LHIN.  “It was a privilege to work at Durham Mental Health Services with the team of 10 new WRAP facilitators who are committed to introducing WRAP throughout the CE LHIN.  They have lots of ideas for where they would like to see WRAP truly making a difference in people’s lives and are passionate about bringing self-help recovery education programs like WRAP to the entire CE LHIN community.”

“We believe strongly that WRAP™ is an approach that has been missing in the CE LHIN.”  Sue Cathcart is a peer support specialist with DMHS.  “This valuable training provides an option for people to gain control over their recovery and mental health management.  It allows us to have a better connection with people in the community that we are here to support from Lake Ontario to Peterborough.”

For more information contact:

Mark Bouwmeester

Coordinator of Consumer Survivor Initiatives

Durham Mental Health Services

905-666-0831 Ex 3238