Mental Health Crisis Plan
Be prepared for if and when your client finds themselves in a severe mental health situation with our Mental Health Crisis Plan. You and your client will both rest easier knowing there is already a plan in place should they find themselves in a crisis.
Fact Checked by Nate Lacson.
What Is A Mental Health Crisis Plan?
A is a document created to prevent and prepare for a worst-case mental health situation for your client. A crisis situation will look different between clients, but usually indicates a situation where your client’s symptoms escalate to the point they may harm themselves or others.
Naturally, as a mental health practitioner, you will want to help your client prevent things from escalating this far and prepare for this future possibility before it occurs, and with our Mental Health Crisis Plan template, you can do just that.
This Mental Health Crisis Plan is made up of six different sections, each designed to help prevent or mitigate the effects of a mental health crisis in your client, to varying degrees of extremity ranging from independent coping strategies to professional and emergency contacts.
Printable Mental Health Crisis Plans
Download these Mental Health Crisis Plans to improve your client's treatment progress and health journey.
How To Use This Mental Health Crisis Plan
We have kept this Mental Health Crisis Plan clearly formatted so the information it contains can be quickly and easily accessed, even when your client is in the throws of a mental health crisis. To start using this Mental Health Crisis Plan, just follow this simple step-by-step guide, or take a look at our Mental Health Crisis Plan Example below.
Step One. Download the Template
The first step is to download a copy of our Mental Health Crisis Plan template. You can get a copy of the free PDF from the download link on this page, or you can also access this template from within Carepatron’s template library.
Step Two. Provide to your client
Next, provide a copy of the template to your client. If they prefer digital copies, which they can store on their phone or laptop so it is easily accessible, they can fill in the PDF using the interactive text boxes provided. If they prefer to write by hand, print out the PDF before giving it to them.
Step Three. Work Through Each Section with your Client
There are six main sections of this Mental Health Crisis Plan template. Your client may have all the tools they need to confidently fill in each, but if not, we recommend you work through these sections with your client- providing suggestions and guidance for each.
Step Four. Store a Copy Securely
Lastly, it is a good idea to store a copy of the completed Mental Health Crisis plan in your patient’s records if you ever need to access the information in the future. Your client may also choose to share copies with trusted members of their support system, or other members of their care team.
Mental Health Crisis Plan Example (Sample)
If you’re still not feeling confident about the sorts of information that might go in each of the sections, don’t worry! Just take a look at our example Mental Health Crisis Plan below. This example template is completed based on a single fictional patient, so your clients’ plans may look very different and will likely vary from person to person. Take a look at the sample or download it as a PDF here.
Download this Mental Health Crisis Example (Sample) here:
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Who Can Use this Mental Health Crisis Plan Template PDF?
All kinds of mental health practitioners can utilize this Mental Health Crisis Plan template in their practice. It’s never a bad idea to prepare for a crisis, and it’s always better to prepare for a crisis well in advance. This means that your client doesn’t need to spend mental energy when they are under the extreme pressure of a mental health crisis. Practitioners who may wish to help their clients create Mental Health Crisis Plans include:
- Clinical Psychologists
- Psychotherapists
- Mental Health Counselors
- Psychiatrists
- Mental Health Nurses
- Social workers
Or any other professional who routinely treats clients with mental health conditions associated with an increased risk of harming themselves or others if their symptoms were to ever escalate to a crisis level.
Why is This Form Useful For Therapists
Broad Applicability
This form can be used by clients with all kinds of mental health conditions, including PTSD, severe depression or anxiety, and schizoaffective or bipolar disorders. It is not limited to a single health condition, and your client does not need to have an official diagnosis in order to benefit from using this plan.
Peace of Mind
You and your client will both be able to move forward with confidence that a plan is in place should they find themselves in a crisis situation. Sometimes, just knowing what to do when things take a turn for the worst is enough to help improve peace of mind and prevent symptoms from escalating to the crisis level.
Interventions for different crisis levels
Depending on your client’s symptoms and mental state, different levels of intervention may be appropriate. If they have managed to catch the developing crisis early, they may be able to soothe themselves using breathing techniques or other coping mechanisms they have developed with you. For more serious situations, they can escalate to reaching out for help from their support system or healthcare professionals. This Mental Health Crisis plan includes a range of levels of intervention, allowing for different crisis levels.
Why Use Carepatron For Mental Health Crisis Software?
Carepatron is a state-of-the-art healthcare management software suite designed to save you time and improve your practice’s compliance and efficiency.
Your patient’s Mental Health Crisis plan contains sensitive and private information which you have a legal obligation to keep secure. While this may sound like a big task, storing these documents in Carepatron makes it easy to meet your legal obligations under HIPAA, and store, access, and edit all different types of medical records, including progress notes, intake forms, and crisis plans.
With your patient’s privacy covered, you can focus on methods to improve your practice’s administration and management, and we’ve got you covered there too. Send out automated SMS or email appointment reminders and reduce no-shows, utilize our mobile or desktop platforms to access Carepatron on the go, sync your team’s calendars, manage billing and medical coding, utilize our smart voice-to-text transcription software, or offer your patients their own Carepatron client portal to schedule appointments with you and access their medical records securely.
Carepatron has a whole range of software solutions waiting for you, and you can even find this Mental Health Crisis Plan, and many more useful templates, from Carepatron’s community resource library.
Commonly asked questions
Regardless of the specific health condition, anyone whose symptoms could potentially escalate to the level where they could try to harm themselves or others should have some kind of Mental Health Crisis Plan in place. These might be people with PTSD, severe depression or anxiety, schizoaffective or bipolar disorders.
The Mental Health Crisis Plan should be in simple language and clearly laid out so that it can be used in a crisis situation when your client may be under significant mental pressure. Keeping statements short and precise is a good idea, as well as having multiple options for each intervention in the event the first option is not effective.
Your client should feel comfortable using the information contained in this Mental Health Crisis Plan throughout a mental health event, whether that is due to a spike in their symptoms or following a trauma trigger. The sections in this Mental Health Crisis Plan gradually escalate the intervention required, starting with practicing independent coping mechanisms, engaging in distractions, contacting a friend or family member, and finally contacting professionals or emergency services.
