The starter toolkit

Free tools, genuinely useful on their own.

Ten tools, each one genuinely useful on its own. They're quick to use, free, and yours to keep. They lead into shrinQ, but they don't depend on it. Start anywhere.

In the moment

For when it's happening, and you need something now.

Panic

The 60-second panic guide

What to do during a panic wave. The 60-second reset, the fallback for when that's too much, and how to recover after.

Open the guide

Mid-spiral

The thought-spiral worksheet

Five steps to work while a spiral is running, not later when you're calm.

Open the worksheet

Two minutes

The breathing pacer

A guided, paced breath with a longer exhale. Follow the circle and let your nervous system settle.

Start the pacer

One minute

The grounding exercise

An interactive walk through your five senses, to pull attention out of your head and into the room.

Start grounding

Five minutes

The five-minute reset

A guided exercise, with the breathing pacer built in, that changes the direction your system is heading.

Start the exercise

Know your pattern

Short, honest self-checks. Not diagnoses, just a clearer look.

Two minutes

The overthinking self-check

An eight-point read on how loud your mind is, then the shape of your loop and the first move that fits it.

Start the self-check

One minute

The rumination check

A quick read on whether you're reflecting or looping, and what to do if it turns out to be a loop.

Start the check

Guides

A little more depth, for patterns that need more than a moment.

Evening

The sleep wind-down

A practical pre-sleep routine for a mind that gets loud at night, built on sleep science.

Open the wind-down

When you're stuck

The first-step finder

For the tasks you keep avoiding. It shrinks the thing until there's a step you can take right now.

Find your first step

Reading

Short reads

A small library of plain-language explainers on how anxiety and overthinking actually work.

Open the reads

Print and keep

Prefer paper? There are printables too

Eight free PDF downloads, including the Overthinking Workbook, the Four Moves reference card, and printable versions of these worksheets. No signup.

Browse the downloads

After the tools

Then there's the full system

shrinQ is the paid system these tools come from: eleven modules, the shrinkMD Reset, and a daily practice that holds up. The tools are a taste. The shrinQ Program is the structure, and the Pattern Library shows the loops it works with.

See how shrinQ works

From shrinkMD

Free guides from the clinical side of the network

shrinkMD publishes the shrinkMD Framework and its three free Reset guides (opens in a new tab). Each one is written for a specific moment:

shrinkMD is part of The Shrink Network, founded by Shariq Refai, MD.

About these tools. They are educational. They are not medical advice, diagnosis, treatment, or crisis support. If you are in crisis, in the US you can call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.