Social health

• Have a buddy, know yourself, know your buddy, ground yourself, have a plan.
• Facilitate brief support group. Purpose: to acknowledge the stress of waiting; how some people can't sleep and isolate; how people are scared and some are even suicidal. How friends and family might not understand experiences. Get feelings out more than stories.
• 12-step groups identified HALTS (Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired, Sick) as concrete reasons for relapse. Psych peer-run groups identified prolonged lack of sleep as far and away most common cause of psychosis and suicidality.
• We're taught to find out if someone in crisis has a plan and the means, and then take away their remaining options by calling 911 without their consent. That's fucked up. What we should be doing is HALTS for ourself and them: help them figure out how to eat if they're hungry, how to let go if they're angry or beating themself up, how to connect if they're lonely or get space if they're crowded, how to sleep if they're tired, and what to do when they're sick.
• We can plan with them, hang out with them, put them in touch with a hotline, or help them get ready to the hospital, but it's their call. And it's your call when you need to back the fuck up and do you.
• Check in with your buddy: HALTS?
• Debrief: Learn about any unmet needs? Training's over in 15 mins so you can go do you.
• Another way to do it: "What did you do to take care of yourself today. What do you need to do?"