Warning Signs Worksheet
Map your personal early warning signs that a mental-health crisis may be building, and write down exactly what to do when you notice them, before things escalate.
About this tool
A mental-health crisis rarely arrives all at once. Most often there are early signs: changes in thinking, mood, sleep, behavior, or how you relate to others, that build over hours or days before things reach a peak. Learning to recognize your own warning signs gives you something precious, which is time. Time to use a coping skill, reach out to someone, contact a professional, or get to safety, all of it far easier early than late.
These signs are personal. For one person the first flag is barely sleeping and racing thoughts. For another it is withdrawing from everyone, skipping meals, or a quiet sense of hopelessness. Some signs are easier for the people around you to spot than for you, which is why it helps to ask someone you trust what they notice in you. Writing it all down turns a vague unease into a clear, actionable map.
This worksheet pairs your warning signs with a plan, so the two live together. When you are struggling, decision-making gets harder, and a plan you wrote when calm can carry you through. It is closely related to a full safety plan, and if you have any thoughts of harming yourself, please use the safety plan tool and reach out for help now, using the crisis lines below.
Everything you write stays in your browser and is never uploaded or stored. The PDF is generated on your own device, so you can keep it private, save it to your phone, or share it with someone you trust or a professional.
- Stanley B, Brown GK. Safety planning intervention: a brief intervention to mitigate suicide risk. Cogn Behav Pract. 2012;19(2):256-264.
- Copeland ME. Wellness Recovery Action Plan. Peach Press; 1997.
- 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
Warning Signs Worksheet FAQ
What are warning signs of a mental-health crisis?
Personal early changes in your thoughts, feelings, body, sleep, or behavior that tend to show up before a crisis peaks, such as racing thoughts, withdrawing from people, not sleeping, or a growing sense of hopelessness. Spotting them early gives you time to act.
When should I fill this out?
When you feel calm and steady, not in the middle of a crisis. A plan written in a clear moment is much easier to follow during a hard one.
What if I notice my warning signs right now?
Use the plan you wrote, reach out to someone, and do not wait if things are escalating. If you have any thoughts of harming yourself, call or text 988 (US) now, or text HOME to 741741 to reach the Crisis Text Line. If you are in immediate danger, call 911 or your local emergency number.
Is anything I write saved?
No. Everything stays in your browser and is never uploaded or stored. The PDF is created on your own device, so you can keep it private.