Walkthrough: Build a crisis plan Available
The hardest moments are the worst time to figure out what to do. A crisis plan is a calm "do this now" card you write ahead of time, before the hard moment, so the steps are ready when your heart is pounding.
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You write them once, when things are quiet. Then they wait for you. This walkthrough shows you how to build each one, where they show up when you need them, and how CareHaven keeps these sensitive plans private on a shared phone.
There are five kinds. You don't need all of them. Build the ones that fit your person, and skip the rest.
Where crisis plans live
Crisis plans sit in the Safety hub, under Crisis plans. Each plan you create belongs to the person you have selected, so build them on the right profile.
Build a seizure plan
This is the one with the live timer. You set the rescue medication, the dose, and the minute-marks for when to give it and when to call emergency services. In the moment, the timer counts the seizure and tells you out loud (and buzzes) when to act, so you can stay with your child instead of watching the clock.
- Open the Safety hub and choose Crisis plans.
- Start a new plan and choose the seizure plan.
- Enter the rescue medication and dose.
- Set the minute-mark for when to give the rescue medication, and the minute-mark for when to call emergency services (911 in the US). Current guidance is to call once a seizure reaches 5 minutes, since after that it is less likely to stop on its own.
- Save the plan.
To run it during a seizure, open the seizure plan, turn your ringer up, and tap Start seizure timer. At your minute-marks the app speaks and buzzes "give rescue med," then "call emergency services." You never have to watch the clock.
For step-by-step practice with the timer itself, see Log a seizure with the timer. For the warning signs worth knowing, see Medical.
Build an "if they go missing" plan
For wandering. This plan gathers what a searcher needs in the first frantic minutes.
- Open Crisis plans and start a new plan.
- Choose If they go missing.
- Fill in what they look like.
- Note where they tend to head. Water first is the standard prompt, because many children who wander are drawn to it.
- Add the calming words that work for your person.
- Add who to call.
- Save the plan.
Build a calm-down plan
For meltdowns, before they escalate. You capture what you already know so anyone with the phone can follow it.
- Open Crisis plans and start a new plan.
- Choose Calm-down plan.
- Write the early signs you watch for.
- Write what helps.
- Write what makes it worse.
- Save the plan.
Build a safety plan
For the hardest moments. This one walks through six ordered steps to get through a crisis. The six headings come pre-filled, so you only fill in what fits your situation.
- Open Crisis plans and start a new plan.
- Choose Safety plan.
- Work through the six steps in order, filling in each one.
- Save the plan.
If a moment ever feels beyond what a plan can hold, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is one tap away from the app's emergency screen.
Build a crisis card
For the phone call you may have to make. The crisis card holds exactly what to tell a crisis line or a dispatcher, with the right specifics, so you are not searching for words under pressure.
- Open Crisis plans and start a new plan.
- Choose Crisis card.
- Write what you would need to tell a crisis line or dispatcher.
- Save the plan.
Where your plans show up when you need them
You will always find your plans inside the app, two ways:
- Safety hub > Crisis plans — your full list, ready to open.
- Universal Search — pull down on the Home screen and search. Everyday words work, including the plan kind or terms like "wandering," "seizure plan," "rescue med," or "safety plan." See Search & Ask CareHaven.
CareHaven can also surface a plan on its own. When your recent regulation check-ins have been running tense or in crisis, a gentle note on the Home screen points you straight to your saved calm-down plan, one tap away, so the steps are there before you have to go looking.
A privacy note for shared phones
Crisis plans are kept out of the iPhone's own Home Screen search (Spotlight). If someone borrows your phone or glances at it, the existence of a sensitive crisis or psychiatric plan never shows up in the system-wide search.
The plans are not hidden from you — they are always inside the app, in the Safety hub and in the app's own search, behind your app lock. They simply do not leak into the phone-wide search corpus. The Letter of Intent and the Health & Communication Passport are kept private the same way.
For more on how CareHaven protects sensitive information, see Privacy & security (in depth).
A few things to know
- These plans are reminders and your own preparation, not medical advice and not a diagnosis. The minute-marks and steps reflect what you and your care team have decided.
- Build them when things are calm. There is no time to write a plan during the emergency it is meant for.
- A live activity on the Lock Screen, an Apple Watch version, and Siri shortcuts for crisis plans are an explicit fast-follow. Coming soon Today, the in-app seizure timer is what runs the live countdown.