AI Mental Health Boundary Table
Use with AI Is Not Therapy.
If you are having thoughts of suicide or self-harm, or are worried about your immediate safety, contact your local emergency services now, or use IASP’s crisis resources. Do not use this worksheet as a substitute for that step.
Before you type: a 30-second self-check
- Am I asking the model to help me organize my own thoughts (lower-stakes), or am I asking it to judge a situation it only knows from my side (needs an accountable person)?
- Does this involve any risk to my safety or someone else’s, right now? If yes — stop, this is an immediate-crisis question. See the contacts section below.
- Am I about to use this chat because it’s easier than calling a specific person? Name that person before you continue.
The full table
| Level | Use case | Examples | Why | What to do instead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lower-stakes support | Organizing thoughts, general information, or drafting questions | Preparing for a conversation; understanding a general term; listing options you will evaluate yourself | You supply the facts and keep the judgment | Check privacy first and verify factual claims. |
| Accountable human support | Recurring distress, relationship conflict, grief, or a high-stakes decision while upset | The same argument keeps happening; processing a loss; a major financial or life choice | A model cannot verify your account, observe the situation, or accept responsibility for the outcome | Contact a trusted person or appropriately qualified professional. AI may help draft questions, but should not be the referee or source of reassurance. |
| Specialist safety support | Abuse, coercion, stalking, or another situation in which ordinary contact could increase risk | A monitored device; threats after attempted separation; fear of retaliation | Generic advice, deletion, or direct confrontation can make some situations less safe | Use a specialist domestic-abuse, safeguarding, or local support service and follow an individualized safety plan. Use a safer device if advised. |
| Immediate crisis | Immediate danger, suicidal intent or self-harm risk, severe confusion or loss of contact with reality with safety risk, or a crisis involving someone else | A person may act now, cannot stay safe, or needs urgent medical help | A chatbot cannot provide emergency assessment or response | Contact local emergency services now, use the IASP link above, or go to the nearest emergency department. Do not wait for a chat response. |
Naming your contacts now (before you need them)
Fill this in while calm — it is much harder to think of names during a crisis.
- Trusted person or professional I would contact for recurring distress or a high-stakes decision:
- Emergency or crisis route I would use for immediate danger: ____________________
- My local emergency services number: ____________________ (look this up yourself; do not rely on an AI tool to tell you the correct number for your country)
- A professional I already see, or would contact first, if I needed ongoing support:
A lower-stakes prompt template
I have [situation] and I'm anxious/upset about [specific thing]. Here's
the situation: [facts].
Help me organize this into: what I want to acknowledge, what context I
want to add, and one question I want to ask. Do not tell me whether
[the other party]'s position is fair — I haven't given you enough
information to judge that, and I'm not asking you to.
Review this table
Print it or save it somewhere you’ll actually see it again — not just in a chat history you might not reopen. Revisit it any time a conversation with an AI tool starts to feel like it’s carrying more weight than “help me organize my thoughts.”