Staying well: my early-signs plan

How it works

• Seven short lists, each with ideas to tap (58 ideas in all) and room for your own words. Tap an idea again to take it off.
• People to tell holds up to five names, with a phone number and what each one can do.
• Check my signs lists the signs you wrote. Tick what is true today and press Keep today’s check. The page repeats what your plan says to do, and keeps one line for the day.
• My last checks shows the last 14, so you can see a change over days.
• Print my plan makes one sheet to keep, to give to someone you trust, or to take to an appointment. The sheet includes your last seven checks.

What this page can’t do

• It cannot remind you to check, and it cannot tell anyone. It has no alarm and sends no message. The people on your list only know if you tell them or give them the sheet.
• It is not treatment or therapy, and it does not diagnose anything.
• It does not judge your ticks. It has no score and no cut-off. It only shows you the plan you wrote.
• It cannot promise that a plan will stop a hard stretch from coming. A plan can make the early days clearer; that is all it can do.
• The plan does not move to another phone or computer by itself. Print it, download it, or use My data on this device to carry a backup across.

Making it yours

• Write it on a good day, and come back to it after a hard one, when you know more.
• Ask someone who knows you well what they notice first. Other people often see the early signs before we do.
• Be exact. “Awake past 2 a.m. three nights in a row” is easier to notice than “sleeping badly”.
• Keep the first steps small enough to do when you are already tired.
• If you see a doctor, nurse or therapist, show them the sheet. They may have things to add, and they will know what you want.

These are everyday ideas in our own words. They are not advice from a clinician, and they do not suit everyone.

How this differs from a safety plan

A safety plan is for the worst moments, when you may be in danger. This plan is for the days and weeks before that: the small changes, and the small steps. If you have both, name the safety plan in this one. If you want your wishes about treatment in a crisis written down ahead of time, see the psychiatric advance directive builder.

Where the idea comes from

Writing down your own early warning signs and what to do about them is something many mental health services do with the people they see, under names such as a relapse prevention plan or a wellness plan. This page borrows that plain idea. It is not any of those programs, and nobody trained in them has looked at this page.