Prepare for Hard Moments: Building A Personal Mental Health or Crisis Plan

Written by Cecelia “Cal” Tucker, MSW, LCSWA
Cecelia “Cal” Tucker is a therapist at Acacia Collaborative Psychological Services.

Updated: 09/21/2026

Note: This is Part 1 of a blog series offering support in creating a personal resource to support your care across all kinds of days.

A personal mental health or crisis plan can help you identify what a difficult day might mean for you, what could be supportive from others, and what you might want to do in a crisis. Sometimes called a wellness recovery plan, it can give you a personal resource to turn to during hard moments. In a frightening or overwhelming situation, knowing the small steps you want to take first—like your options for who to call and where to go—can make it easier to navigate the moment itself.

Key Takeaways

• Planning can make it easier to identify and communicate the support you actually want.
• Understanding your personal baseline can help you notice when you’re becoming increasingly overwhelmed.
• Triggers and signs that you need additional support can look different for everyone.
• Identifying what brings you safety, autonomy, comfort, or peace can give you options to turn to during hard moments.
• Your plan is personal—you can pick and choose what feels helpful to you.

Table of Contents

• Why Can a Mental Health or Crisis Plan Be Helpful?
• What Is the History of Mental Health Planning?
• How Can You Define Your Own Mental Health Baseline?
• How Can You Recognize When You Need More Support?
• How Can You Identify Your Triggers?
• What Helps You Feel Safe, Comfortable, or Supported?
• How Can You Start Your Own Wellbeing and Crisis Plan?
• Frequently Asked Questions

Why Can a Mental Health or Crisis Plan Be Helpful?

A mental health or crisis plan can be a supportive tool for navigating hard mental health days. Consciously or unconsciously, we often build plans for bad days—what to do if the power goes out, if we start to feel sick, or if a bus or car breaks down.

Just as with other types of emergencies, planning can be a supportive tool for hard mental health days. Identifying beforehand what a difficult day might mean for you, what could be supportive from others, and even what to do in a crisis can make it easier to identify and communicate the support you actually want.

Planning for emergencies can also expand our understanding of what is supportive to us on a daily basis, or what might be personal signs that we’re becoming increasingly overwhelmed.

This blog post series will offer some support in creating a personal resource to support your care across all kinds of days.

What Is the History of Mental Health Planning?

There is a long legacy of people looking to create more supportive resources for navigating mental health on their own terms. Common examples include Mary Ellen Copeland’s Wellness Recovery Action Plans (WRAP), Momo’s Mapping Our Madness—a great creative DIY version—and more classic safety or crisis planning resources. I really like this Safety Plan from StrongerU.

A common thread to these resources is that they were created by individuals with lived experience of mental illness and crisis. Each resource offers ways to think about and prepare for natural fluctuations in mental health.

How Can You Define Your Own Mental Health Baseline?

Defining your own baseline means identifying what your personal mental health or wellbeing typically looks like and distinguishing signs that indicate you may need further support.

For example:

“At baseline I’ll have a mixture of happy and sad moments, but even during hard stuff I am still seeing friends, finding ways to rest and take breaks, and cooking whenever I have energy.”

Your baseline is personal. We all have different experiences, so what feels typical or manageable for one person may look very different for another.

How Can You Recognize When You Need More Support?

Recognizing when you need more support starts with identifying the personal signs that things are becoming harder for you. At the other end of your baseline is the process of defining what signs might mean that you could use additional resources or care.

This can look extremely different from person to person because we all have a different baseline.

For example:

“When I’m starting to struggle, I usually start isolating more, basic tasks feel harder, and I feel like I don’t have time to take a break without something bad happening.”

Or:

“I have intrusive thoughts daily, but usually they don’t impact what I do. If my thoughts start to get louder and keep me from doing things, that’s when I know I need to get some back-up.”

You may be in a low point or crisis now and trying to identify a previous or ideal “baseline” may not feel accessible. You may also feel that you’ve never had or can’t trust your baseline—this is okay!

The different potential elements of this plan may or may not feel helpful. You can pick and choose what makes sense for you.

How Can You Identify Your Triggers?

Identifying triggers can help you recognize times when having your wellbeing plan nearby or reaching out for support in advance may be helpful. Another common part of these types of plans can be identifying potential triggers or general situations or experiences that feel unsafe or uncomfortable.

Examples of this can be anniversaries of grief or trauma, scary experiences, or unsafe conditions.

Making note of these can help you identify times when you may want to have your wellbeing plan on hand or reach out to a friend in advance!

What Helps You Feel Safe, Comfortable, or Supported?

Thinking about what increases feelings of safety, autonomy, comfort, or peace can give you options to turn to when you’re feeling overwhelmed. Focus on whatever feels most accurate and accessible to you.

These might be places, comfort media, specific people, and favorite or pleasant activities. Making a list of these can provide you with a future menu of activities or actions to turn to when you’re feeling overwhelmed.

It doesn’t need to look like anyone else’s list. What matters is identifying the people, places, experiences, and activities that feel supportive to you.

How Can You Start Your Own Wellbeing and Crisis Plan?

You can start your wellbeing and crisis plan by writing down experiences that cause distress alongside things that are comforting or helpful. This gives you a simple place to begin identifying what you may need across different kinds of days.

You can add to this list as you learn more about your own needs, triggers, comforts, and sources of support. The different elements of the plan may or may not feel helpful—you can pick and choose what makes sense for you.

Frequently Asked Questions 

About Acacia Collaborative

Acacia Collaborative Psychological Services provides therapy and psychological services for children, teens, adults, couples, and families in North Carolina. Acacia Collaborative offers individualized care designed to support clients across a range of mental health needs and life experiences.

Thanks for reading—look out for Part 2, where we’ll finish creating your Wellbeing and Crisis Plan!