What should a mental health crisis plan include?

The person's early and late warning signs, what has helped and what has made things worse, who to call in order with phone numbers (clinicians, 988, mobile crisis, trusted people, and when to call 911), the person's preferences about hospitals, medications, and who is told, the current medication list, and where the plan is kept.

What happens when you call 988?

In the U.S., 988 connects you to a trained crisis counselor by call or text, 24/7, for any mental health, substance use, or suicidal crisis. Counselors listen, help de-escalate, and connect to local resources; they can also advise family members worried about someone else.

Should I call 911 for a mental health crisis?

Call 911 or your local emergency number when there is immediate danger to the person or others or a medical emergency. For crises without immediate danger, 988 or a county mobile crisis team is often the better first call. Decide the threshold together in advance and write it in the plan.

What is a mobile crisis team?

A team of mental health clinicians, available in many U.S. counties, who come to a person's location during a mental health crisis to assess, de-escalate, and connect to care — often avoiding an emergency room or police response. Find your local team's number before you need it and put it in the plan.

How to Make a Mental Health Crisis Plan With a Loved One

Published September 14, 2026 · By Andy & Adam, CareCoordinate

Mental health crises are frightening precisely because the person who usually knows what they need is the one who cannot say it. The family improvises: is this the night to call someone? Whom? Will the ER help or make it worse? What did the therapist say to do? In the moment, nobody remembers, and decisions get made from fear.

A crisis plan is a document made in calm, for use in chaos — by the person and the people who love them, together. It is not a legal instrument (though it can point to one) and it does not need a professional to write, though a therapist can help. It needs to be honest, specific to this person, agreed to, and findable at 2 a.m. Here is what goes in it and how to make it. If someone is in danger right now, call or text 988 (U.S.) or your local emergency number first and read this later.

Make it together, in a calm stretch

The plan belongs to the person, not to the family. Sit down with them when things are stable, ideally with their therapist's encouragement, and frame it as what it is: a way for them to be in charge of what happens when they cannot be. Many people find relief in the exercise — it names the fear and puts a fence around it. If they refuse, make a version for the family's own use, and offer again later.

Section 1: What a crisis looks like for this person

Every person's warning signs are specific. Write them in both voices: 'I stop answering texts and start sleeping in the afternoon' next to 'you talk faster and start three projects in a day.' Include the early, subtle signs — the ones that give the most time to act — and the later ones that mean it is time to call. Note the things that tend to trigger a crisis if they are known: a missed medication, a stopped medication, poor sleep, an anniversary, alcohol, a stressor.

Section 2: What helps and what hurts

Ask, and write it down exactly: what has helped in past hard times — a walk, a specific person, quiet, music, being left alone for an hour, being sat with and not talked to. And what has made things worse — being crowded, being argued with, raised voices, certain people, certain places. This section is the one families forget in the moment and the one that most changes how a night goes.

Section 3: Who to call, in order

Numbers, not names. In the order the person and the family agree on:

The person's own therapist and prescriber, with after-hours instructions.
The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (call or text 988 in the U.S.) — for the person or for the family; counselors can also advise a worried relative.
The county or regional mobile crisis team, if one exists — clinicians who come to the home and are often the best alternative to police or the ER. Find the number now.
Trusted people the person wants involved, and anyone they do not.
911 or the local emergency number — and the family's agreed threshold for calling it: immediate danger to the person or others, a medical emergency, or the crisis line's advice to do so. If calling 911, ask for a crisis-trained officer if the department has them.

Section 4: The person's preferences

Which hospital, if hospitalization is needed, and which to avoid. Which medications have helped in past crises and which have caused bad reactions — this is information the emergency team needs and the person may not be able to give. Who should be notified and who should not. Who takes care of children, pets, the job, the rent. What the person wants the family to say to them, and not say. If the person has a psychiatric advance directive or healthcare proxy, where it is. Attach the current medication list and the diagnoses.

Section 5: Where it lives, and when it is reviewed

A plan that cannot be found is not a plan. Copies go on the person's phone and the family's, in the shared care record with the medication list and the team directory, and — if the person agrees — on the refrigerator with the emergency sheet. Everyone named in it should have read it. After every crisis, sit down within a couple of weeks and update it with what you learned: what worked, what did not, who actually answered the phone.

Families using CareCoordinate keep the crisis plan alongside the medication list, the provider directory, and the daily check-ins, so the person who is on the phone with 988 at midnight has the medication names and the psychiatrist's number in the same hand.

Write it together when things are calm. Record this person's warning signs, what helps and hurts, who to call in order with numbers, and their preferences for hospital, medications, and who is told. Attach the medication list, keep copies where they will be found, and revise after every crisis. A plan made in calm is the family's steadiest hand in chaos.

Questions families ask

What should a mental health crisis plan include?: The person's early and late warning signs, what has helped and what has made things worse, who to call in order with phone numbers (clinicians, 988, mobile crisis, trusted people, and when to call 911), the person's preferences about hospitals, medications, and who is told, the current medication list, and where the plan is kept.
What happens when you call 988?: In the U.S., 988 connects you to a trained crisis counselor by call or text, 24/7, for any mental health, substance use, or suicidal crisis. Counselors listen, help de-escalate, and connect to local resources; they can also advise family members worried about someone else.
Should I call 911 for a mental health crisis?: Call 911 or your local emergency number when there is immediate danger to the person or others or a medical emergency. For crises without immediate danger, 988 or a county mobile crisis team is often the better first call. Decide the threshold together in advance and write it in the plan.
What is a mobile crisis team?: A team of mental health clinicians, available in many U.S. counties, who come to a person's location during a mental health crisis to assess, de-escalate, and connect to care — often avoiding an emergency room or police response. Find your local team's number before you need it and put it in the plan.