- Group Insurance Commission
What’s a mental health emergency kit?
Simply put, a mental health emergency kit is a first aid kit for your emotions and moods. It’s a list of reliable resources, things and people that you can turn to when you notice a bad mood coming on or when a stressor threatens to derail your day. You may already have these kinds of tools, like listening to music, calling a friend or watching a favorite show after a tough day.
Your own kit is unique, but here are a few standard guidelines that can help you create it. To get started, choose at least one item for each of the following categories.
Something calming
A calming activity can serve as an initial step, much like cleaning a wound.
Something calming could include:
- 5 minutes of journaling: You can use a pen and paper, your phone or whatever works best for you.
- Meditation: If you’re a meditation novice, there are tons of free, guided meditations online and available with the Calm app that can help you mentally recenter.*
- Progressive muscle relaxation: This practice is pretty simple. To do it, lie on your back and clench and release each of your muscles one by one until your whole body relaxes.
Something warm and cozy
Think of your creature comforts and something that feels like a hug or sigh of relief and put them on your list. It might be a warm cup of tea, listening to a favorite playlist, or snuggling with a pet or comfy blanket.
Your happy place
This tactic is often used during different types of therapy. It involves creating a mental safe haven that you can go to in times of stress.
If you have a literal picture of your happy place, or of somewhere that reminds you of it, add it to your mental health emergency kit. A visual, like a photo or a drawing, can sometimes help bring you to your place more quickly and help you enjoy visiting all the sights and sounds of that enjoyable experience.
Something you enjoy
We never want to ignore what we’re feeling, but sometimes engaging in a healthy distraction can help us get through overwhelming emotions by pulling our attention elsewhere.
It could be listening to music, running, or even just lying outside and watching the clouds go by. Nearly anything goes as long as it enriches your life and brings you pleasure.
Someone you trust
Sometimes we just need to talk to another human. Talking can help bring us back to earth and remind us of what’s real versus the story we’re telling ourselves in a cloud of stress.
You can add as many people as you want to your kit. Someone might be a valuable listener when you are sad, another might be someone who can share a laugh. Your person could also be a behavioral coach, your therapist or even a crisis hotline.
One last tip
For some of us, medication will also be a part of our mental health emergency kits, so don’t forget to put it on your list. Be sure to always keep up with your refills, take as prescribed and keep your doctor’s phone number stored in your contacts.
Most important, however, is to use your kit. Put 10 minutes or so on your calendar (if that helps) to put together your list. Save it where you’ll remember it.
Then, the next time you’re feeling stressed, sad or worried, open up your kit and use your tools or build self-care tools into your everyday routine.
