Today Is the Day. (Sept. 21, 2026!)
Today, Wings officially opens our High Fidelity Wraparound Program.
I am fairly emotional about writing those words.
Because for me—and for Wings—this is truly full circle.
Thirty-one years ago this week, I joined Wings.
But my Wraparound story actually started a year before that. I was working at a school in North Carolina when I was introduced to Wraparound. It was grassroots then—a developing model of care planning and, more importantly, a philosophy about how we should work with children and families.
When I say that experience changed MY life, I am not being dramatic.
It did.
And when I think about the thousands and thousands of children and families whose lives have been changed by this philosophy over the years, it is hard not to be emotional today.
Then, in 1995, Wings brought Wraparound to Maine, again, grassroots through the federal Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and Their Families Program — the original Systems of Care grant.
It was the first time Wraparound existed here in Maine.
Wings did that.
OCFS and DOC partnered with us, adopted it and for six years we practiced it, learned from it, evaluated it, collected data and saw what could happen when families were truly at the center of their own planning.
Then the grant went away.
Wings stayed.
That matters to me.
Over the next 30 years, Wraparound grew and evolved—in fits and starts at times. It took some amazingly strong and persistent leaders in Maine and across the country to keep the momentum going.
The practice became more intensive. Standards were developed. Training became more formalized. Credentialing developed. We learned more about fidelity and why it mattered.
Because Wraparound drift was real.
If we were going to call something Wraparound, we needed to make sure it actually was Wraparound.
Different models, standards and approaches were developed and tried over the years. Ultimately, the National Wraparound Implementation Center and the national movement around High Fidelity Wraparound gave us the consistency, research, standards and fidelity that this work needed.
Through all of that evolution, though, the heart of Wraparound never changed.
Families.
Youth.
Community.
Strengths.
Needs.
Choice.
Voice.
Least restrictive.
Persistence.
Hope.
Those things have always mattered at Wings.
Wings has had the privilege of being trained over the years by some of the very best people in the history of this work—Carl Dennis, Pat Miles, John Franz, Jim Rast, John VanDenBerg, Mary Grealish, Lucille Eber, and yes, I know I am forgetting people.
We learned from them.
We practiced.
We changed.
We grew.
But Wings never forgot what was important.
Maine has gone through at least two previous significant efforts to create a System of Care with care coordination at the center and Wraparound as the model.
There were starts. Stops. Changes. Different approaches.
Wings did not stop believing in it.
Parents didn’t stop.
Providers didn’t stop.
People across this state and across the country kept learning, collecting data, improving the model and pushing for systems that truly worked differently for children and families.
And now here we are.
Again.
Except this time, something is different.
This time, our State did it. MaineCare and OCFS leadership did it.
There has been tremendous work and commitment to get Maine to this point, and that deserves to be recognized.
Kaley. Dean. Elissa Wynne. And before them, Robin Boustead, Jim Bougher, Jay Yoe—and so many others who carried pieces of this work at different times.
Thank you.
And there is another part of the story about Wings’ involvement in this most recent chapter—but that is a story for another day!
Today I just want to appreciate where we are.
PCG. The Center of Excellence. UConn. Our State partners. And all of the other fabulous providers across Maine who are beginning this journey together:
Let’s do this.
And let’s do it right.
There has to be passion for this work.
And apparently there has to be a whole lot of patience, too. 😊
We have both.
And then there is the Wings team.
For more than a year, people at Wings have been working toward this day.
Training. Studying. Preparing. Changing forms. Learning new systems. Receiving coaching. Practicing. Asking questions. Getting ready—and continuing to train and receive coaching because High Fidelity means we don’t simply say we are doing Wraparound.
We demonstrate it in our practice.
Miranda and Amanda—I always knew that you were going to be the right people to do this, your practice and your ability to engage with families and youth and providers made you the people I wanted starting it.
And I am so glad you said yes.
You get to start this.
Kat and Alice—wow. Our two HiFI wraparound! The right people at the right time. We are incredibly lucky to have you as part of this.
Danielle—I have known you for more than half of your life. You grew up here. You know how deeply Wings has always carried the Wraparound message. There is something very special about having you here for this chapter.
Andrew, our Nurse Care Manager—you are such a natural fit with High Fidelity and Wraparound. You understand that health is part of the whole child and whole family, not something sitting off to the side. You will be—and already are—an integral part of this team.
And if we are going to grow this program, we needed someone who could communicate, connect people, help move things along and be a point of contact.
Ashley—thank you for grabbing hold of this program.
You will not regret it.
Wings is so fortunate to have your voice as a Care Coordinator and, even more importantly, your voice and experience as a parent.
Jenny—Program Manager extraordinaire, partner in all the things—thank you doesn’t really cut it.
You know.
Katie and Courtney—making it happen in a hundred different ways. Training, systems, forms, modifications, details—and carrying the passion with you while you do it.
And everyone else who have contributed and been impacted by Wraparound and specifically Wings, again, a story for another time…
And I cannot write this without mentioning Sue.
Sue is retired now, but her contribution helped get Wings—and Maine—to this moment.
Her parent voice was STRONG.
Exactly as it should have been.
Thank you, Sue.
And to everyone else at Wings who has carried this philosophy over the years, whether you called it Wraparound, System of Care, family-driven care, strengths-based practice, care coordination—or simply the way Wings works with families—you are part of today too.
So here we are.
Thirty-one years after I joined Wings.
More than three decades after Wings first brought Wraparound to Maine.
After the original grant.
After six years of practice and evaluation.
After the grant ended and Wings stayed.
After multiple statewide efforts.
After changes in systems, funding, terminology, standards and leadership.
After countless parents, youth, providers, advocates and leaders refused to let this philosophy disappear.
Today, Sept 21, 2026, Wings opens its High-Fidelity Wraparound Program.
I don’t take that lightly.
And I don’t think we should.
We have history behind us.
We have extraordinary people beside us.
And most importantly, we have children and families ahead of us who deserve for us to get this right.
So we will keep learning.
We will accept coaching.
We will measure our fidelity.
We will listen to families.
We will listen to youth.
We will hold ourselves to the highest standards.
We will remember our history without being stuck in it.
And we will bring everything we have learned over these 31 years into what comes next.
Wings is here.
We are ready.
And we are going to grow this program to meet the needs of Maine’s children and families.
So…
Who’s in?
Who’s with us?
Because today is the day.
Let’s do this. And let’s do it right.
With a very full heart,
Trish Niedorowski
Executive Director