Three out-of-office templates for taking a mental health day. Says enough without oversharing — and treats it as the legitimate professional choice it is.
Quick answer
A mental health day OOO message says you're out for the day (or short period), names a coverage contact, and doesn't apologize or over-explain. "Personal day" or "out today" is enough — you don't owe details. Pair with a routing URL so urgent matters reach the right person without you in the loop.
→ Pro tip
You took the day off. Don't spend it triaging email.
OutOfOfficePro at $9.99/month routes urgent matters automatically. The whole point of a mental health day is to actually rest.
Hello,
Thank you for your email. I'm out of office today on personal time and will be back tomorrow, [return date]. I'll respond to your message when I return.
For urgent matters, please contact [colleague name] at [colleague email] or use [yourname].outofofficepro.com for category-based routing.
Best,
[Your name]
Template 2 — Multi-day wellness break
Multi-day
Hi,
I'm taking a few personal days from [start date] through [return date] — fully offline. I'll respond when I'm back.
For anything that can't wait, [colleague name] at [colleague email] is covering. For urgent issue-specific routing, [yourname].outofofficepro.com.
Thanks,
[Your name]
Template 3 — Brief
Brief
Out today on personal time. Back tomorrow.
Urgent: [colleague], [email] or [yourname].outofofficepro.com.
— [Your name]
Why "personal day" beats "mental health day" in OOO copy
Privacy. "Personal day" gives no medical context. "Mental health day" sometimes invites unwanted follow-up.
Equally legitimate. Personal days, mental health days, sick days — all forms of using time off you've earned.
Don't apologize. "I'm not feeling well today" is fine; "Sorry to be out" is unnecessary.
Don't promise to "check in later." A mental health day where you check Slack twice is not a mental health day.
// Mental health days work better with active routing
Take the day. Actually take it.
OutOfOfficePro routes urgent matters to the right team member automatically. $9.99/month, cancel anytime, free tier covers 5 dispatches/month so you can try it.