From WRAP to wellness routines, discover how support networks and proactive habits create stability and meaning.
I hadn’t been to a Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA) support group meeting in years. So when a friend invited me back, I was reminded of how helpful these meetings were to me — and surprised at how long it had taken me to consider going again.
Developing a support network is crucial to bipolar stability. I’ve found that no one person, including myself, can carry the weight of this diagnosis alone. But sharing and carrying this burden together in a community makes it possible to live with bipolar and to thrive in a meaningful way.
Places to Seek Bipolar Support
My support networks over the years have included:
I believe a holistic, individualized approach to care and treatment offers me the best support for living a meaningful life with bipolar.
No one person or system of care can best tell you how to manage your symptoms and treat yourself — but together in a community of support and care, I’ve found that I’m able to best determine how to take care of myself.
Recovery is possible. I’m living it.
Develop a Personalized Treatment Plan
Years ago, a lifelong friend and psychologist, Jim, introduced me to the Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP). WRAP is an evidence-based program and practice, developed in the 1990s by Mary Ellen Copeland, PhD, and her team. It’s described on its website as, “a self-designed prevention and wellness process that anyone can use to get well, stay well, and make their life the way they want it to be.”
Through WRAP, I was able to identify characteristics of my wellness, triggers, and stressors that can lead to emotional dysregulation, and to give practical examples of how my support system can help.
In my WRAP, I have identified mental health care providers who treat me, hospitals I prefer if I need to be hospitalized, and hospitals that I’d only go to as a last resort.
I also talk about self-care and things that make me feel happy, whole, and healthy. I identify things friends and family can look for that might indicate there’s a problem with my mental health. Years ago, Jim gave me a little WRAP workbook, but today people can use the website or the app to create a WRAP.
Proactive Behaviors for Bipolar Stability
I believe in preventative mental health care, and being proactive in my recovery. For me this looks like not only doing the basics:
- Practicing good sleep hygiene
- Eating healthy balanced meals and drinking water
- Taking my medications as directed by my doctors
It also involves:
- Having fun by walking my pug dog
- Enjoying the beauty of an art museum
- Prioritizing time with friends
- Making time for a spiritual practice
We can do a lot to be active agents in our own recovery stories. Part of that is looking for support in groups, people, organizations, and medicine. But most importantly, I believe stability comes from supporting oneself through self-care, preventative mental health care, and being proactive in having fun and staying well.
I’m the son of a preacher, but my message is to preach recovery, and that it’s possible to live in recovery with bipolar disorder.
You can live a meaningful life where you can autonomously direct your own support, care, and treatment while living with bipolar. We have the ability to help ourselves heal and to lead others in our healing process. We have the right to say what is supportive in our recovery journeys and what’s not.
UPDATED: Originally posted August 15, 2023.