Map your household support network
Support is a capacity, not a feeling. Households that can name specific people for specific needs recover faster.
List the needs, then the names
Write the need first, then the two people you would actually call. Blanks are the useful part of this exercise.
- Emergency childcare or school pickup within an hour
- A ride to a hospital or airport
- A place to stay for a week
- A short-term loan of a few hundred dollars
- Help with an aging parent for a weekend
- Someone to hold a spare key and know your plan
Make the ask reciprocal and specific in advance
Agreements made in calm conditions get honored. Tell the person what you might ask for and offer the same back.
Fill gaps with paid or institutional backup
Where you have no name, find a service now: a backup care provider, a local respite program, a neighborhood mutual aid group, or an employee assistance program.
Common questions
What if I have no local family?
Build named backups instead: two neighbors, a paid backup care service, and a colleague who can cover work. Naming a service counts as coverage.
See where your household stands
The Household Resilience Check scores this dimension along with seven others in about five minutes.
Take the Household Resilience Check →