Wellness and Recovery after Psychosis (WRAP)

Treatments and Services

Psychotic symptoms are stressful and often interfere with daily function. However, symptom relief is possible with high-quality treatment. Evidence-based treatment in WRAP includes medication and non-medication options. This includes:

Expert consultation. One-time consultation for diagnostic clarification and/or treatment recommendations.
First-episode psychosis care. Team-based specialty care for individuals within the first five years of psychotic illness.
Tertiary schizophrenia service. Long-term expert medication management for individuals outside the first five years of illness with schizophrenia and complex illness (for example, schizophrenia that doesn’t respond to treatment, or medical issues that interfere with treatment) and/or a need for specialty care.
Psychosis education and community outreach. Education about psychosis, for those with lived experience, families, healthcare professionals, and our community.

Learn more about what we offer:

Medication Management

Our team of psychiatrists and nurse practitioners (NPs) regularly evaluate symptoms and prescribe medications to treat symptoms of psychosis. Our goal is to use the minimal effective dose of medications. We prioritize ongoing monitoring of your physical health (blood glucose, cholesterol, weight) and will watch closely for side effects. We also make sure there has been an appropriate medical work-up of your symptoms.

Specialized Medication Services

Long-Acting Antipsychotics

For individuals who prefer not to take medications by mouth, or who struggle to take daily medications, we offer long-acting antipsychotic treatment options. Many people find this helps them take their medicine as they are supposed to.

Clozapine

Clozapine is a medication that is often used to treat psychotic symptoms that don’t respond to other medications. Especially at the start of treatment, close side-effect monitoring is required. We offer a specialized clinic for regular check-ins, lab work, and medication adjustment all in one visit.

Individualized Therapy and Group Support

Psychotherapy

Our team of social workers, psychology interns, and psychologists use talk therapy to help treat psychosis, depression, anxiety, and other symptoms. Talk therapy can also be used to help build self-esteem, problem-solve around stressors, strengthen coping mechanisms, and improve social and community functioning.

Models of talk therapy we offer include supportive therapy, individual resiliency training (IRT), cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and more.

Peer Support

Peer support specialists are mental health professionals who provide support—virtually, in the clinic, or in the community—to individuals by using their own lived experience with psychosis to help others.

Peer support specialists can help:

Advocate for people in recovery
Provide mentorship
Set goals
Share resources
Build skills

Young Adult Group Therapy

We offer weekly group therapy for young adults with psychosis. This virtual group allows individuals to talk to and connect with peers who are facing similar challenges or who have gone through a shared experience, so they can develop new skills.

Family Support and Education

WRAP offers both individual family support and education and peer support through virtual groups for family members of loved ones with psychosis. We offer one virtual group in English and one in Spanish.

Family education is individualized to a family’s needs, but often includes education on psychosis, treatment options, and strategies to support impacted loved ones through the recovery process.

Motivational Interviewing for Loved Ones (MILO)

Our team also has expertise in helping parents and other family members strengthen communication skills with their teen or young adult and provides education in our motivational interviewing for loved ones (MILO) sessions. We offer parents or other family caregivers four or five sessions of coaching on how to approach communication with adolescents and young adults with psychosis or other mental health difficulties.

Email LearnAboutMILO@bmc.org if you would like to work with a MILO coach to have better conversations with your family. Participation can be either on Zoom or in person.

Frequently Asked Questions about WRAP

What is early intervention (EI) for psychosis?

Early intervention (EI) care for psychosis aims to reduce the negative impact of psychosis and improve long-term functioning and wellbeing.

Individuals within the first 5 years of their psychosis starting are eligible for our first episode/early intervention team.

Potential Benefits

EI care for psychosis has been found to:

Reduce the risk of psychiatric hospitalization
Reduce the severity of symptoms
Reduce risk of treatment drop-out
Improve functioning in school and/or work compared to non–team-based treatment

Treatment Model

WRAP uses an evidenced-based EI model called Coordinated Specialty Care. This involves a team-based approach of specialists who provide “wraparound” care, which can include:

Individual therapy
Peer support and group therapy
Family support and education
Medication management
Individualized education and employment support

Learn More about the Coordinated Specialty Care Model

Does WRAP provide care beyond the first 5 years of psychotic illness?

Yes! We offer specialized medication management for psychotic illness across the lifespan. However, the availability of other therapeutic services may be limited, as many of our services are supported by grant funding that is limited to use by our first-episode psychosis team. We will work with you to find alternatives within outpatient psychiatry at BMC or closer to your home.

WRAP without Walls

The Wellness and Recovery after Psychosis (WRAP) without Walls program provides care for adolescents and young adults with frequent substance use and psychosis symptoms. The multidisciplinary team at WRAP without Walls (WWW) provides comprehensive community-based services to help patients manage their symptoms and return to daily life as much as possible.

In addition to the services provided by WRAP, WRAP without Walls includes:

Peer support specialists. Peer specialists provide support to individuals by using their own lived experience with psychosis to help others. Peer specialists and individuals can meet at the hospital, or somewhere in the community.
Family education. We work with individuals and their families to provide education about psychiatric illness and teach strategies to decrease stress, improve communication, and solve problems. We also collaborate with families and individuals to help with recovery.
Patient navigation. Our patient navigator helps patients, families, and caregivers navigate the many systems encountered during their mental health treatment in WRAP and WWW. They provide education and outreach to patients and families/caregivers and assist with interactions in the community, including transportation systems, school system and community agencies.

Initial funding for WRAP without Walls was provided by a grant from the Jack Satter Foundation.

Get to Know the WRAP without Walls Team Learn More about Our Research

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