Safety Planning: A Guide to Suicide Prevention
September is Suicide Prevention Month, which makes it an important time to talk about something that can genuinely save lives: knowing what to do when someone is experiencing suicidal thoughts.
When we hear the words “suicide prevention,” it can sometimes feel like a huge and overwhelming topic. We may think about crisis hotlines, emergency rooms, therapy, or difficult conversations with someone we love. But suicide prevention can also involve something much more practical: knowing what to do when things feel unbearable.
This is where a safety plan comes in.
What is a Safety Plan?
A safety plan is a personalized plan that helps someone identify what they can do, who they can reach out to, and where they can turn for help when suicidal thoughts become intense.
One approach that therapists and other mental health professionals may use is the Stanley-Brown Safety Planning Intervention. It was developed as a brief, collaborative intervention for people experiencing suicidal thoughts or who may be at risk for suicide. Of course, you don’t have to be a therapist to understand what a safety plan is. In fact, I think it’s important that people outside of the mental health field understand what safety planning looks like.
Why? Because you never know when you, a friend, a family member, a partner, or someone else you care about may need one.
A safety plan is essentially a roadmap for getting through a really difficult moment. It’s best created when someone is in a calmer state so they can think through what they might need if their emotional distress becomes overwhelming later.
The plan answers questions such as:
How will I know I am starting to struggle?
What can I do to help myself get through the moment?
Who can I reach out to?
Where can I go if I don’t want to be alone?
What professional resources can I use?
How can I make my environment safer?
The goal isn’t to make suicidal thoughts disappear. Instead, a safety plan creates steps between having a thought and acting on that thought.
When someone is experiencing intense emotional pain, their ability to problem-solve or think rationally can become much more limited. Having a plan already written down means they don’t have to figure everything out while they are in the middle of that pain.
A safety plan is an active plan that focuses on what a person can do when they are struggling. It’s also personalized because what helps one person may not help another.
For example, for one person, calling a friend might be helpful. For someone else, getting out of the house and being around people might be more useful. Someone else may find that listening to music, taking a shower, going for a walk, or spending time with their pet gives them enough space to let an intense emotion pass.
The goal is to identify what works for that individual person.
Creating a Safety Plan
Step 1: Recognizing Your Warning Signs
The first part of a safety plan involves identifying the signs that someone may be heading toward a crisis. These can be thoughts, feelings, behaviors, or situations that tend to happen before suicidal thoughts become more intense.
For example, someone might notice that they start isolating themselves, stop responding to friends, become extremely anxious, feel hopeless, experience intense self-criticism, or begin thinking that other people would be better off without them.
Recognizing these signs can be incredibly important. The earlier someone recognizes that they’re struggling, the sooner they can begin using their safety plan.
Step 2: Things You Can Do on Your Own
The next part involves identifying things someone can do to help themselves cope with intense emotions. This does not mean finding something that will completely solve the problem. Instead, think of it as finding something that can help someone ride out the moment.
Maybe that means taking a walk or watching a comforting show. It could be listening to music, taking a shower, sitting outside, doing something creative, playing with a pet, practicing breathing exercises, or simply getting out of bed and changing environments.
These things may seem small, but during a crisis, small steps can matter. Step 3: People and Places That Provide Connection
Sometimes we don’t necessarily need someone to fix our problems. We just need to not feel completely alone.
A safety plan can include people or places that provide distraction and connection. That might be a friend you can call, a family member you can sit with, a favorite coffee shop, a gym, a community space, or anywhere else where you feel less isolated.
The important thing is to identify these options before you need them.
Step 4: People You Can Ask for Help
This part is about identifying people you can directly reach out to when you are struggling. These might be friends, family members, a partner, or another trusted person. You don’t have to have the perfect words. You might simply say: “I’m having a really hard day. Can you stay with me for a little while?” Or, “I don't need you to fix anything. I just don't want to be alone right now.”
Asking for help can feel incredibly difficult, especially when someone is experiencing shame or believes they are a burden. That’s one reason it can be helpful to decide ahead of time who you would reach out to.
Step 5: Professional Support
A safety plan should also include professional resources. This might include a therapist, doctor, psychiatrist, or other mental health professional. It should also include crisis resources.
In the United States, people can call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
If someone is in immediate danger or believes they may act on suicidal thoughts, they should call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department.
Having these resources written down ahead of time can make it easier to reach out when thinking clearly is difficult.
Step 6: Making Things Safer
Another important part of safety planning involves looking at a person's environment and identifying ways to reduce access to things they could use to hurt themselves during a crisis.
This might mean having someone else temporarily hold onto certain items, securing medications, or making other changes that create additional time and distance during a high-risk moment.
This is not about punishment. It’s about creating a safer environment while someone is experiencing an intense emotional crisis.
Why Safety Planning Matters
One of the biggest reasons safety planning can be helpful is that a crisis can make it difficult to think clearly.
When someone is overwhelmed by emotional pain, they may not remember the things that normally help them. They may struggle to think of someone to call or even believe that anyone would want to hear from them.
A safety plan puts those decisions somewhere they can be accessed when they are needed. It creates a roadmap. And perhaps most importantly, it reminds someone that a suicidal thought does not have to become a suicidal action.
You Don’t Have to Be a Therapist to Help
Suicide prevention is not only the responsibility of mental health professionals. Friends, family members, coworkers, partners, parents, teachers, and community members can all play a role.
Sometimes that role is simply noticing that someone is struggling and being willing to ask, “Are you okay?” Sometimes it’s sitting with someone while they make a phone call. Sometimes it is helping someone get connected with professional support.
And sometimes it’s simply reminding someone that they don’t have to figure everything out tonight.
During Suicide Prevention Month, I encourage you to learn what a safety plan is, learn the warning signs, save crisis resources in your phone, and have conversations with the people you care about.
You never know when having that information might help someone take the next step toward safety.
We’re Also Here to Help
If you or someone you know if struggling with suicidal thoughts, it’s helpful to seek out professional support. Speaking with a therapist can help you not only identify the root causes of what’s causing suicidal thoughts, but also help you heal from that pain and help keep you safe. Contact us here, email info@deepwatermichigan.com, or call 734.203.0183 ext. 700 to learn more or schedule an appointment.
If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts, call or text 988 in the United States for immediate crisis support. If there is an immediate danger of harm, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department.
-By Amanda Klaus, LMSW