Each member of the Team has fulfilled the qualifications for becoming a Mental Health Recovery Educator/WRAP® Facilitator and holds a Facilitator Certificate issued by Mary Ellen Copeland. Our Advanced Level Mental Health Recovery Educator/WRAP® Facilitators have been certified by Mary Ellen Copeland to train and certify WRAP® Facilitators.
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(Taken from the Copeland Center Wellness Newsletter June 18, 2014)
Reflections on Advanced Level WRAP Facilitator Training
by Vanessa Priest
Wow! What an amazing and transformational experience! The Advanced WRAP Facilitators and International Mentors, John (Joch) Woodruff and Rona McBrierty, set an incredible tone with their obvious mutual respect and their unwavering belief in WRAP. Throughout the training, the Values & Ethics of WRAP® were modeled in such a way as to not just be inspiring, but also seemed to work on me on a level other than the conscious.
I love the practice of providing strength-based feedback. The opportunity to self-reflect made me think differently about how I treat myself and to view my own strengths, first and foremost, and any opportunities for growth as just that—not “wrong” or “bad”. I find myself treating myself with a gentler voice than before.
My WRAP Facilitator training of June 2012, facilitated by Gina Calhoun, Cicely Spencer and Mary-Beth Ault, was quite memorable and gave me the tools I needed to facilitate WRAP® workshops. What differs between the two experiences for me is that I now feel I know how to live WRAP® as a lifestyle. From the Values & Ethics to the Power of Language to an emphasis and focus on strengths versus perceived deficits, I get that WRAP® is, or at least can be, a way of life.
Its facilitation imparts a unique responsibility—to live by a code which, for some of us, may be a new concept. We, as facilitators, can be true ambassadors of what WRAP® means by doing our best to live by this code outside of WRAP® workshops—by truly “walking the walk”—so those who touch our lives recognize this difference and may seek more information about it. In this way, we may find our path as champions of recovery and more. We may find that we are advocates for change in our world by demonstrating the Values & Ethics in our day to day lives.
WRAP®, I discovered, is more than a Toolbox, Daily Maintenance Plan, etc. It’s a force for change in our lives, in the way we look at ourselves, in the way we do things. Incorporating the Values & Ethics of WRAP® into my life means both responsibility as well as freedom. It is a responsibility to myself and others to do my best to live the principles, but such freedom to get to let others be themselves! Too often, I find myself “shoulding” others, particularly because I do believe in a code of conduct, but honoring others means accepting their journey for what it is—wherever they’re at. I can hold the hope for them that they will eventually come to the philosophy behind WRAP®—living the Values & Ethics—by role modeling what that means with myself and others. After all, hope is what recovery is all about.
“Be the change you wish to see in the world.” – Gandhi
Ms. Priest recently attended the Advanced Level WRAP Facilitator Training in Virginia Beach with trainers John Woodruff and Rona McBrierty. She is an independent contractor with Northern Virginia's Fairfax-Falls Church Community Services Board. She looks forward to bringing the rewarding gift of facilitating WRAP to fellow consumers by conducting Facilitator Trainings in that area and maybe beyond!
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WRAP Facilitator Training 2015
Kudos to our 2015 WRAP Facilitator graduates!
WRAP Facilitator Training 2014
Kudos to our 2014 WRAP Facilitator graduates!
WRAP Facilitator Training 2013
Congratulations to all the individuals who participated in this spring's WRAP facilitator training.
WRAP Facilitator Training 2012
Below are the new and recertified WRAP Facilitators from our June 2012 training. Congrads to all our friends who attended from Virginia and out of state.
