Crisis Guides
Navigating a Mental Health Crisis Guide
This free guide is packed with information to help you prepare for and navigate a mental health crisis. It provides space to gather information about yourself or loved one that can be accessed quickly and presented to emergency personnel, treatment providers, and health care professionals. Additional topics include:
- Factors that can contribute to a crisis
- Warning signs that a crisis is emerging
- Strategies to help de-escalate a crisis
- What to do in an emergency
- How to advocate for treatment for you or a loved one
- How to prepare a portable treatment record
NAMI Indiana Crisis Guide
This booklet describes the general parameters of what to do to get help in a psychiatric crisis in Indiana.
There are 24 Community Mental Health Centers (CMHCs) with office locations serving 92 counties in Indiana. Each of these CMHCs has its unique set procedures, so it is critical to contact the one serving the county in which your person in crisis resides, and to become aware of what these procedures are.
Contact information for each center is on pages 18–20 of the booklet.
NAMI Minnesota Criminal Justice Guide
Advocating for an Adult with a Mental Illness
This booklet is for anyone trying to advocate for a person with a mental illness who has been arrested or is otherwise involved in the Minnesota criminal justice system. However, it contains basic information about the criminal justice process from the initial response to an incident all the way to release from prison that may still be informative to any persons involved with the criminal justice system in Indiana. This booklet does not contain legal advice and is provided solely for information purposes.
Portable Treatment Record
Keeping detailed records of your or your loved one’s mental health condition is important so that you can give accurate information to your health care provider. You can keep the information in a spiral notebook or binder—it can be informal as long as you keep it up-to-date, accurate and complete.
You may find it helpful to download and print NAMI’s Portable Treatment Record to organize this information.
Consider including information such as
- Names, phone numbers and dates of appointments (past and future) of all doctors, therapists, and other medical providers
- Dates of hospital admission and discharge
- Medications (name, dosage, frequency, length of time taken, prescribing doctor, reactions to specific medications and side effects, if any)
- Medical history (include all conditions, surgeries, allergies)
- Dates of suicide attempts or self-harm
- Symptoms commonly seen when the you or your loved one begins to deteriorate
- History of leaving a hospital without a formal discharge, if any
- Arrests or court involvements that were the result of the mental illness
- Names, addresses and phone numbers of people you may need to contact
