Mental health checklists

88 checklists, each a short pass over one part of an ordinary week, and two new ones every day. Every item is on its page, free to read.

Affairs

The Paperwork After a Death For the weeks of paperwork that follow a death, when the forms arrive faster than the grief allows.

Aging Parents

When a Parent Starts Needing Help For the point where a parent starts needing help and nobody has said so.

Anger

When Anger Arrives Fast For the moments anger lands before you have had a chance to think — a rude message, a plan wrecked, someone talking…

Anxiety

Steadying Yourself When Nerves Hit For the twenty minutes before something that matters — an interview, a scan, a hard conversation.

Body

A Day When Your Body Hurts For the days pain or illness sets the terms and the plans have to shrink. Getting Back to Moving Your Body For the restart after weeks or years away, when the old routine feels out of reach and starting feels faintly…

Boundaries

Saying No Without Talking Yourself Out of It For the moment someone asks for something and you can feel yourself about to agree anyway.

Burnout

When You Have Nothing Left for Work For the stretch when the job has emptied you out and pushing harder is no longer working.

Caregiving

When You Are the One Holding It Together For anyone looking after someone who needs a great deal, on the weeks it is all invisible.

Communication

Before a Conversation You Have Been Dreading For the talk you have rehearsed in your head for weeks and still have not had. When You Owe Someone an Apology For when you know you were in the wrong and the longer you leave it the worse it gets.

Comparison

When Someone Else's Good News Stings For the moment a friend's promotion, engagement or baby announcement lands with a thud instead of joy.

Confidence

Before You Ask for a Raise For the week before you finally bring up pay. It gets your case onto one page, settles the number before you are in the… The Hour Before an Interview For the hour before an interview, when the preparation is done and the nerves arrive anyway.

Connection

Getting Back in Touch After Too Long For the friend you have been meaning to message for a year and now feel awkward about. When a Friend Is Struggling For when someone you care about is having a hard time and you are not sure what to say.

Dating

Getting Back Into Dating For getting back out there after a long gap or a bad stretch. It helps you decide what you are looking for, keep the…

Debt

Facing the Whole Picture of What You Owe For the point where you stop guessing and put every debt on one page.

Decisions

When You Cannot Make the Decision For the choice you have been turning over for weeks without landing anywhere.

Drinking

Cutting Back on Drinking For the weeks you want to drink less without making it a whole identity.

Driving

Getting Back Behind the Wheel For getting back to driving after a crash, a near miss, or years out of the driver's seat.

Estrangement

When a Family Member Stops Speaking to You For a parent, sibling or child who has stopped speaking to you. It keeps the door unlocked without leaving you waiting…

Faith

When Your Faith Feels Far Away For a stretch when the practice feels empty and you are not sure what is left.

Family

Getting Through a Family Visit For the holiday weekend or the trip home where the old patterns are waiting.

Focus

Starting When You Cannot Focus For the afternoon you have read the same paragraph four times and opened nothing.

Food

Eating When You Have No Appetite For the stretches when food feels like a chore and meals get skipped without you deciding to.

Forgiveness

When You Are Still Carrying a Grudge For a resentment you have been carrying for months or years and are tired of.

Friendship

When a Friendship Has Run Its Course For a friendship that has quietly thinned out and may be over. It helps you tell a drift from a rift, make one clear…

Gratitude

Noticing What Went Right Today For the end of a day that felt like nothing good happened. It asks for three small things rather than big ones, what it…

Grief

The Week After a Loss For the first days after someone has died, when ordinary life keeps asking things of you.

Grounding

Coming Down From a Panic Wave For the twenty minutes after panic crests, when your body is still racing and you feel wrung out.

Habits

Putting the Phone Down Mid-Scroll For the half hour that disappears into bad news and other people's lives.

Health

Before a Medical Appointment That Frightens You For the days before a scan, a test result or a visit you have been putting off. The Night Before a Procedure For the evening before an operation or a procedure, when the instructions are long and the mind is loud.

Holidays

Planning the Holidays Before They Arrive For the weeks before the holidays, when invitations, money and expectations all land at once.

Home

When the House Has Got Away From You For the rooms that piled up during a hard stretch, when the whole job looks too big to start.

Job Search

The First Week of Looking for Work For the first week of looking for work, before the routine exists. It gives the search office hours instead of the…

Loneliness

A Weekend With No One in It For the long, quiet weekend when nobody has called and the hours stretch out.

Medication

Taking Your Medication Every Day For a daily medication you keep forgetting or putting off. It ties the dose to something you already do, puts the…

Milestones

When Your Birthday Lands Hard For the birthday that brings more dread than celebration, whether it is the number, who is missing, or the gap between…

Mindfulness

Five Minutes in the Middle of a Bad Day For a day that has gone wrong by eleven in the morning and still has hours left in it.

Money

When Money Worry Won’t Switch Off For the nights the numbers keep circling and nothing gets decided. It turns the vague dread into facts, one next step… When a Bill You Cannot Pay Arrives For the letter or email that asks for money you do not have right now.

Mornings

Getting Out of Bed on a Heavy Morning For the mornings when getting up feels like more than you have in you.

Motivation

When a Project Stalls Halfway For the thing you were excited about two months ago and have not touched in three weeks.

Moving

The Week You Pack Up a Home For the week before a move, when the whole house has to go in boxes.

Neighbors

When a Neighbor Problem Needs Raising For the noise, the parking or the fence that has been bothering you for weeks.

Newborn

The First Weeks With a Newborn For the first weeks with a newborn, when the days have no shape. It gets feeds and diapers on one sheet, puts visitors…

Outdoors

Getting Outside After Days Indoors For the stretch when you have not been outside in days and the door feels heavier than it is.

Overstimulation

When Everything Is Too Loud For the point in a day when the noise, the light and the people are more than you can take.

Pacing

Pacing a Week With a Long-Term Condition For living with a condition whose cost varies, where a good day borrows from tomorrow.

Parenting

Parenting on Almost No Sleep For the stretch when the nights are broken and the days run on fumes. Telling Your Child Something Hard For the news you have to give a child — a separation, a death, a move, a diagnosis in the family — and the hour before…

Perfectionism

When Good Enough Has to Do For the piece of work you keep rewriting past the point of improvement.

Pets

When Your Pet Is Ill For the weeks an animal you love is sick and the decisions keep coming.

Play

Making Room for Something You Enjoy For the weeks that are all obligation and nothing you do for its own sake.

Reading

Getting Back Into Reading For wanting to read again when the phone keeps winning. It puts a book where the phone usually sits, counts five pages…

Relationships

After a Fight With Someone You Love For the hour or two after it, when the house is quiet and you are still rehearsing your side.

Rest

Taking a Day Off Without Earning It For the rest you keep postponing until you have done enough to deserve it.

Retirement

Your First Month Retired For the first weeks after finishing work, when the days arrive with nothing already in them.

Screens

Turning the Noise Down on Your Phone For when the phone is running your attention rather than the other way around.

Seasons

When the Dark Comes Earlier For the weeks when it is dark before you finish work and the evenings stretch out.

Self-Care

When Washing Feels Like Too Much For the stretch where showering, teeth and clean clothes have all slid, and the longer it goes the harder it gets.

Self-Compassion

When the Inner Critic Gets Loud For the hours after a mistake, when the voice in your head starts summing up your whole character.

Separation

The First Month After a Separation For the first month after a separation, when everything needs deciding at once.

Setbacks

After a Rejection You Did Not Expect For the hours after a no you were not braced for, from a job, an application or a person.

Shift Work

Sleeping Well When You Work Nights For anyone working nights or rotating shifts, when sleep has to happen at the wrong time of day.

Sleep

Winding Down for the Evening A short evening routine for closing the day instead of letting it trail off into midnight.

Smoking

Putting Down the Cigarettes For the week you decide to stop smoking. It sets a date with witnesses, gets real help from a pharmacist, plans the…

Social Anxiety

Getting Through an Event You Dread For the party, wedding or work thing you already want to get out of.

Stress

Facing the Paperwork You Keep Avoiding For the form, claim or renewal that has been on the kitchen table for a month and grows heavier every time you walk…

Study

Studying When the Exam Is Close For the last stretch before a test, when panic makes you reread the same pages for hours.

Teenagers

When Your Teenager Will Not Talk to You For a stretch when a teenager has gone quiet and every question makes it worse.

Therapy

Your First Therapy Session For the week before you first sit down with a therapist. It helps you work out what you want to say, what you want to…

Transitions

The First Day Back After Time Away For the morning you return to a full inbox and the break already feels undone. The First Week in a New Place For the days after a move, when the boxes are down but nothing feels like yours yet.

Travel

The Day You Fly Somewhere For the day you fly when flying is the part you dread. It gets the documents, food and distractions settled early…

Visiting

Visiting Someone in the Hospital For going to see someone in the hospital when you are not sure what helps.

Volunteering

Giving a Few Hours Away For wanting to give some time but never getting past the thought. It starts from a skill you already have, turns a…

Wellbeing

Coping & Self-Care Strategies A menu of things that help when a day turns heavy, from breathing and grounding to telling someone. Daily Mental Health Checklist A once-a-day pass over the basics that hold a mood steady: food, water, movement, people, rest. Long-Term Mental Wellness Practices The slower habits that keep you well over months rather than hours: boundaries, hobbies, reflection and community. Recognizing Warning Signs Helps you notice the shifts that tend to arrive before a harder stretch, like broken sleep, pulling away from people…

Work

Taking the Edge Off Sunday Night For the Sunday-evening slump, when the week ahead starts pressing in before it has even begun. The Week After Losing Your Job For the first days after a layoff or a firing, before the job search begins in earnest. Your First Week in a New Job For the week you start somewhere new, when everybody else knows how things work and you do not.

Worry

The Week You Are Waiting on News For the stretch between a test, an application or a decision and the answer, when nothing you do changes the outcome. When Worry Wakes You in the Night For the small hours, when one thought has you wide awake and everything looks unfixable.

Educational only — not medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Find a licensed therapist if you want support.