Illness Management and Recovery / IMR-A07-5
Personal Early Warning Signs — Review journal
Review an attempt at personal early warning signs and choose what to keep, change, or leave aside.
10 minutes · Journal prompts · Adults; supported use as appropriate
Fictional example: Casey notices less sleep and difficulty attending usual activities.
Use an ordinary or fictional example, with a clinician when appropriate. Changes can be noticed relative to an individual's usual pattern without self-diagnosis.
Before looking back
Choose one ordinary attempt or decide to review the fictional example instead. This journal has no scores, required disclosure, or expectation of progress.
Revisit the practice
With a clinician, list personally meaningful early changes, possible alternative explanations, and agreed response steps.
Notice context and impact
Record what actually happened, including an unhelpful or neutral outcome. Note resources, power differences, accessibility, and changed conditions rather than attributing everything to personal effort.
Choose a revision
Which changes should prompt a planned conversation with your team? Keep the approach, change one part, ask for support, or set it aside. A mismatch is useful information.
Prompts for this resource
- What I tried, or what happened in the fictional example:
- What I noticed before, during, and after; what remains uncertain:
- What helped, did not help, or was outside my control:
- Which changes should prompt a planned conversation with your team? My optional adjustment or support request:
Conceptual background
Illness Management and Recovery Evidence-Based Practices KIT — SAMHSA
Background on the approach only. Original exercises and wording are by More Than Therapy with AI assistance; the source does not validate or endorse these materials.