Self-Help Tools

Screens and Decision Making Tools

Mental Health Screening Tools: A screening is a tool that has been proven by research to help identify symptoms of a mental health disorder.  MHA's screening tools provide an anonymous, free and private way to learn about your mental health and if you are showing warning signs of a mental illness.

A screening only takes a few minutes, and after you are finished you will be given information about the next steps you should take based on the results. A screening is not a diagnosis, but it can be a helpful tool for starting a conversation with your doctor or a loved one about your mental health.

MHA has screening tools to help identify signs of:

• Depression
• Anxiety
• Bipolar Disorder
• PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder)
• Alcohol or Substance Use Problems;  
• Psychosis; and
• Eating Disorders

There are also screening tools to help young people and parents to determine if a young person's emotions, attention, or behaviors might be signs of a mental health problem. 

Stress Test: This is a questionnaire that was developed to determine the degree of stress you are experiencing. 

Interactive Where to Get Help Tool: This tool helps guide you to sources for seeking mental health help based on your answers to a short series of questions.

Worksheets

Keep Your Mind Grounded NEW for Back to School!

When Change is Hard: The following four worksheets were developed to accompany the #4Mind4Body Challenge and provide questions to think about as you plan to make changes in favor of a healthier lifestyle.

• When Changing Diet is Hard
• When Changing Exercise is Hard
• When Changing Sleep is Hard
• When Managing Stress is Hard

A Letter to Risky Business: This worksheet provides prompts for working through why you take part in risky behaviors, how they are harming your wellbeing, and what you can do take control of these behaviors.

Filling the Void: What makes you turn to risky behaviors? What needs are you trying to fulfill?

Think Ahead: Organizing your thoughts and taking steps to feel better can be tough when you’re weighed down by a mental health disorder. That’s why it’s important to think ahead. At a time when you’re feeling well and able, use this worksheet to prepare or plan ahead. 

Stopping Stupid Thoughts: This worksheet lays out a five-step process for challenging cognitive distortions or "stupid thoughts." These inaccurate or exaggerated thoughts can be extreme and frequent, and often damage self-esteem, mood, and relationships with others, contributing to anxiety and depression - which is why it's so important to work through them.

What's Underneath: Taking the time to slow down and identify what we are really experiencing can help us feel better and can improve our relationships with others. This worksheet will help you to build your emotional vocabulary to help you better understand and communicate your feelings. 

Sample Letter for Starting a Conversation About Mental Health Struggles: Originally designed for MHA's 2016 Back to School Toolkit, this fill-in-the-blanks style letter is good for people of all ages who want to start a conversation about struggles with their mental health, but aren't sure how to get started.

Other

#MentalIllnessFeelsLike: This is a place on the MHA website where people can post videos, images or words describing their personal experience with mental illnesses. You can make written and/or image submissions directly through the site, or you can submit videos, images, blogs or just a few words by posting with #mentalillnessfeelslike on Instagram or Twitter. Posting with our hashtag is a way to speak up, to share your point of view with people who may be struggling to explain what they are going through—and help others figure out if they too are showing signs of a mental illness. Sharing is the key to breaking down negative attitudes surrounding mental illnesses and to showing others that they are not alone in their feelings and their symptoms.

31 Tips to Boost Your Mental Health (List): A collection of 31 tips for improving mental health with pictures, videos and links to help you get started.

31 Ways to Work on Your Wellness (Poster): A printable poster with a tip for each day of the month of May. 

Ten Tools to Help Live Your Life Well: This page outlines 10 simple, evidence-based tools you can use to make healthy lifestyle changes.

Create a Psychiatric Advance Directive: Similar to a medical advance directive or a health care power of attorney, a psychiatric advance directive is a legal document completed in a time of wellness that provides instructions regarding treatment or services one wishes to have or not have, and appoint an agent who may make decisions about your treatment during a mental health crisis. A mental health crisis is when a person is unable to make or communicate rational decisions. Here you will be provided a four-step process for creating a Psychiatric Advance Directive.