A plan for a bad day, made in a good week

The activity

A one-page plan, made calmly with your children: who they can call, who does the school run, and what you say to each other on a hard day.

What it is for. This is for a parent living with low mood, anxiety or another condition that comes and goes. A bad day is easier on everyone when the family has already thought about what happens on one.

• The first step. Choose a good week to do this, and a calm time within it.
• Agree one rule for an emergency, and keep it simple: if they cannot wake you, you are hurt, or they think you are in danger, they call for emergency help first and ring the adult named on the plan second. For anything else, they ring that adult. Say plainly that looking after you is not their job; the rule is only about fetching help.

Safety. The printable carries only the emergency route; the names and numbers of the adults who can help are for you to write in together.

When to get help. If you are not safe, or not sure you can keep yourself or someone else safe, do not wait for the plan: use the routes under “If you need help right now”, at the foot of every page, straight away. For everything else, the GP is the first step, and in England you can refer yourself to NHS Talking Therapies.

The other three steps, and your part in it, are in the library.

The sheet that goes with it is free to print: A plan for a bad day.

It goes with

• When You Are Not All Right. For parents whose own mental health is part of what’s going on at home.

The first chapter you open here is free to read in full.

Free on this subject

• Parent wellbeing. What to do first, what helps, and who else can help. Free to read and to print.
• Low mood. What to do first, what helps, and who else can help. Free to read and to print.