I don't see this subject mentioned much. I always thought I was well prepared with gear and plans in place for various disasters but found myself quite unprepared for dealing with a child with a mental health problem. So I have learned some things and thought I'd pass them on.

My son was diagnosed with Autism last year but has had a lot of issues ever since starting school. He has issues with aggression, verbal threats, etc. Some of the things we have had to deal with are interactions with police, child protective services, multiple doctors, hospitals, etc.

Some things we have learned:

1. Be proactive, I called my work HR and let them know we have an child with Autism who has explosive and aggressive behaviors so there may be days I need to leave the office due to an emergency without time to notify my manger, or there may be police records of calls to my house when they do their regular background checks. We may also have cases open with child protective services if/when he does hurt himself. I found it better to make the notification up front rather than deal with the assumptions and have to explain the situation after. Call them and get notes on file ahead of time. Start looking at security cameras now.

2. Make sure you have good physical security. I have to keep all my cool gear locked up which means knowing where keys are at all times or multiple combinations. Add practice drills to your prep plans, know how to open the safe/lockbox's by feel in the dark. Have a lock box in Any vehicle toy might drive as many hospitals don't appreciate some of the cool gear we carry. I have double deadbolts on many doors to prevent elopement, those need to be factored into fire evacuation drills.

3. Find some training, when he says you hurt him and shows bruises, its your word against his but having some kind of formal training gives some plasuable deniability when you demonstrate to the officer or CPS the proper holds/blocks that you have been trained to use when trying to prevent self harm.

4. Find support networks early on, don't wait until family/friends are all uses up and step away 'to give you the space you need'. Contact your local department of disability and get a services administrator/coordinator to see what assistance may be available. Use it. Don't assume the situation will be temporary, plan for the worst and take anything that is available. If your situation does end up being temporary you can always pay it forward with a donation to some org which deals with your type of issues. Apply for medicaid/disability, if the situation does go long term you'll need it.

5. Find an sync tool for your phone. Cloud based services fail when your in the basement of the emergency department and there is so much equipment interfering that you can't get a signal. Put the biggest microsd card in your phone you can and a tool to sync your data. Every doctor/nurse will ask what medication they are currently on and have been on. I have a big spreadsheet that I keep up to date with every med change and sync to my phone so I can quickly open it and give the answers. But it has to be local for when/if you can't reach "the cloud". Keep your previous phone as a spare so you have something to fall back on when your current one gets broken.

6. Make sure you have a small overnight bag in your vehicles, I'm not talking about the typical BOB/GHB with your camping/outdoor survival gear, this should be things like deoderent, toothbrush, some earbuds ($5 dollar store are plenty), phone charger, etc. Things to help you feel more relaxed when sitting in a hospital room.

7. Make time for the rest of the family. I know its hard, you work 8 hours then go home and work another 8 trying to care for a kid with a mental health disorder then you crash in bed and start over the next day, after months and years of that your spouse turns into just a roommate, don't let that happen.

8. Start getting your finances in order early on. Find a trust lawyer to put your farm land in a trust so its not something that could be taken should you go bankrupt. Find out about hardship withdraw on your 401k now rather than when your really needing it.

Feel free to add anything I've missed.