Navigating a Mental Health Crisis

It can be frightening when you or a loved one is experiencing a mental health crisis. You may not know what to do. Below are some ideas for navigating a crisis that you or someone you support is experiencing.

If You Are Experiencing A Mental Health Crisis

Know When It's a Crisis

A mental health crisis is when someone is experiencing symptoms that make them feel out of control or prevent them from being able to care for themselves. It can look very different for different people. For example thinking about suicide, hearing voices, or having unusual thoughts can be part of a mental health crisis for some people, but other people are able to well manage these experiences.

You get to decide when what you’re experiencing has reached a crisis level for you.

Plan Ahead, When Possible

If you have experienced a mental health crisis in the past, you may want to plan ahead in case a crisis happens again. Planning head helps ensure that your preferences are honored during the crisis, and can sometimes help interrupt things before they get to a crisis level.

Resources for Wellness and Crisis Planning

  • Wellness Recovery Action Plan (opens in a new window)
    Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP) is a wellness process that anyone can use. It helps you figure out what you need to do to stay well, and how to plan for a crisis.
  • Madness & Oppression: Paths to Personal Transformation & Collective Liberation (opens in a new window)
    This guide, examines the intersections of oppression and mental health struggles, and takes you through the process of creating your own personal wellness document.
  • Making a Self Care Plan (opens in a new window)
    Tips for making a simple self care plan.
  • A New Kind of Safety Plan (opens in a new window)
    A simple safety plan for recording your personal crisis warning signs, what you can do to stay safe, and who can help during this time.
  • Navigating Crisis (opens in a new window)
    Key things to think about when you are dealing with mental health crisis.
  • Psychiatric Advance Directives: Forms to Prepare (opens in a new window)
    Psychiatric Advance Directives (PADs) are documents that you can use to specify your preferences for mental health care during times you are not able to give consent.

 

Need help finding tools and supports to include in your wellness or crisis plan? Reach out to the COMPASS Helpline! We provide information and resources to help people navigate the  mental health system and problem solve in difficult circumstances.

Learn more about the NAMI Mass COMPASS Helpline

Do a Self Check In

Ask yourself what you need (or don’t need) right now. Is there something you can do to make yourself feel better or distract yourself? Do you need the company of someone else, or would time alone be helpful?

Also ask yourself when the last time you ate or slept was. Sometimes we neglect basic needs when we are not doing well, and that can worsen what we are experiencing.

The focus is on you. Your number one priority right now is taking care of yourself.

Engage in Self Care

You can try doing something that makes you feel good or that distracts you from what you’re experiencing.

Need some ideas?

Know that self care looks different for different people, and your self care needs can change moment to moment. Do what works for you right now.

Get Support From Someone You Trust

If you think that you can’t manage this alone, reach out to a friend, family member, peer supporter, or other person you trust for support. Not sure what to say when you reach out? Read 10 Ways To‘”Reach Out” When You’re Struggling With Your Mental Health (opens in a new window) for ideas.

Use a Crisis Call/Text/Chat Service

If you don’t have someone to reach out to – or think that talking with someone you don’t know would be helpful – you could try a crisis call/text/chat service. Their operators are trained to provide support, resources, and referrals to people who are experiencing a crisis.

Crisis Call/Text/Chat Services

Talk to Your Mental Health Provider

If you’re already getting care from a mental health provider, like a therapist or psychiatrist, you may want to reach out to them for support. Many mental health practices offer urgent care for their patients, either with the patient’s provider or an on-call provider.

Use a Peer-Based Crisis Alternative

Peer-based crisis alternative programs are a support option for people dealing with a crisis, or to help prevent times of crisis.

  • Afiya in Northampton (opens in a new window)
    Afiya is a peer respite program hosted by the Western Mass Recovery Learning Community.
  • Peer to Peer Program in Quincy (opens in a new window)
    Aspire Health Alliance hosts the Peer to Peer Program in Quincy. Housed within their crisis team, it offers short-term support to people in times of crisis as well as after.
  • The Living Room in Framingham (opens in a new window)
    The Living Room is a short-term peer-run diversion program that provides support to people in times of crisis. The Living Room in Framingham is hosted by Advocates, Inc..
  • The Living Room in Springfield (opens in a new window)
    The Living Room is a short-term peer-run diversion program that provides support to people in times of crisis. The Living Room in Springfield is hosted by Behavioral Health Network.
  • The Living Room in Greenfield (opens in a new window)
    The Living Room is a short-term peer-run diversion program that provides support to people in times of crisis. The Living Room in Greenfield is hosted by Behavioral Health Network.

Call your Local Emergency Services Program or Get Urgent Care

If you you need to speak with a mental health provider urgently about what you are experiencing, you can call your local Emergency Services Program (ESP). ESPs – often called crisis teams – are staffed by mental health clinicians. They can talk to people who feel they are in or near crisis, and try to help them find the supports they need to manage the crisis.

ESP services are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. You can find the ESP serving your area, by calling 1-877-382-1609 and entering your zip code. You can also find a list of ESPs by location here: https://www.masspartnership.com/pdf/ESPflyerprovidersandcollaterals.pdf (opens in a new window).

 

Note that ESPs may not support people who have recently used substances. If you need urgent substance-related care and cannot get support through your local ESP, you can try the following:

Go to Your Local Emergency Room

If you need to speak with someone urgently about what you are experiencing and other options are not available (or your crisis involves a medical emergency) you can go to your local hospital emergency room.

Like Emergency Service Programs (ESPs), emergency room providers will give you an assessment to help determine next steps. Know that the care options that can be offered in the emergency room are often more limited than what an ESP can offer, and your ability to choose the care that you think will work best may be limited.