How to Create a Safety Plan

Plan for Safety

A safety plan is a list of coping strategies and support services or loved ones that can guide you to “know what to do next time.” It serves as a promise to yourself not to act on suicidal feelings. A safety plan is a brief emergency plan written in your own words that can be followed during a suicidal crisis.

A safety plan contains a series of step-by-step procedures, written by you that you follow should you begin to experience a suicidal crisis, until you feel safe. While emotional pain that triggers thoughts of suicide may feel overwhelming, it does not mean you will lose control or act on these thoughts. Your safety plan is your emergency plan. Not only is it important to have an emergency plan, but you should identify a person in your life who you can trust to share this plan. You do not have to go through this dark time alone.

Creating a Plan for Safety

Your plan should be written while you are feeling well and thinking clearly. Find a person you trust to help you develop this plan. It is best to get someone involved since you will need to call on them if you decide it is time to execute your emergency plan. Put your plan in writing and keep it in a place where you can easily access it and give a copy to your trusted confidant.

There is no right or wrong way to write your safety plan. However, some step-by-step guidelines can help you develop your plan.

Step 1: Warning signs

The first step is to think about warning signs. Warning signs are situations, images, thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that might trigger or accompany suicidal thoughts or urges for you. Be specific as you list these warning signs so that you can refer to them when deciding if it is time to activate your plan.

Step 2: Comfort measures

The next step is to create ways to comfort yourself. Think back to a time when you felt anxious, stressed, or feeling depressed; how did you comfort yourself? A few things that have worked for others are breathing exercises, meditation, walking, and listening to music. Research some relaxation techniques and try them out to see what works best for you.

Some people find comfort in helping others, volunteering at a homeless shelter or a humane society.

Step 3: What are you grateful for/Reasons for living

Next, create a list of your reasons to live. When suicidal thoughts creep up on you, they can be overwhelming, and it is easy to get caught up in the emotional pain that you can lose sight of the good things in your life. Putting these things in writing can help you refocus your attention on the reasons that keep you going until your suicidal feelings and thoughts pass.

SPEAK Network’s positive self-discovery course encourages the use of a gratitude journal. Gratitude is more than knowing what you are thankful for. Gratitude is also an experience, a feeling that arises within you at a given moment. In this three-step “Check in,” you will connect to this feeling of

gratitude. Complete these three steps every day. You can do this at any time of the day.

1) Close your eyes and bring to mind a recent positive event, something good that happened to you

during the past week.

2) Take a moment to think about who or what was needed for this event to occur.

3) Notice how your body feels in response to this memory; scan through your body from head to toe

and observe any new physical sensations.

Step 4: Support system

Your plan should include a list of support systems. This list can include people you can talk to if you cannot work through a crisis with self-help measures. Include professional resources such as the suicide crisis hotline and the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.

Step 5: Making your environment safe

Keeping yourself safe may include removing items you might use to harm yourself. You might have to call on one of your support persons identified in step 4 to meet you at a park or mall to help distract you until the feelings pass.

If you have a plan for safety written down and in a place you can easily refer to, and these steps have failed to keep you feeling safe, go to your nearest emergency department or call 911 and ask for professional help.