Coping skill
Writing a personal safety plan
A simple, written plan for warning signs, coping steps, people to call, and how to remove access to means — made before a crisis, not during one.
If you are thinking about suicide or are in immediate danger, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) or call 911 now. The steps below are for planning ahead, not a substitute for crisis support.
A safety plan is a short, written document you create while you’re thinking clearly, so it’s ready to use when you’re not. It’s a format used widely in suicide-prevention and relapse-prevention work — the idea is the same either way: decision-making gets harder in a crisis, so the decisions get made in advance instead.
It doesn’t need to be long or formal. A note in your phone, a card in your wallet, or a page in a journal all work — what matters is that it exists somewhere you’ll actually find it.
What to include
- Warning signs. The thoughts, feelings, or situations that usually come before a hard moment — for you specifically, not a generic list.
- Coping steps you can do alone. Things that have helped before: a grounding exercise, a walk, calling a specific song into your head, leaving a situation.
- People you can contact. Names and numbers, in order — a friend, a sponsor or mentor, a family member. Include more than one, since the first person might not be reachable.
- Professionals and crisis lines. A therapist or provider's number, plus 988 (call or text) and, for emergencies, 911.
- Making the environment safer. A concrete plan for reducing access to substances or means during a high-risk period — asking someone else to hold onto something, removing it from the house, or staying somewhere else for a night.
- One reason to keep going. Something personal and specific — a person, a pet, a goal — written in your own words.
How to use it
Write it when you’re steady, not waiting for a crisis to start one. Keep it somewhere easy to reach — saved in your phone, written on paper you carry, or both. Look at it occasionally even when things are calm, so it’s familiar instead of being one more thing to figure out under stress. Update it as your life changes — new contacts, new warning signs you’ve noticed, new coping tools that have started working.
My Recovery Support includes a Safety Plan feature in the app, built around this same structure, along with quick access to crisis resources when you need them fast.
Background
- Stanley, B., & Brown, G. K. (2012). Safety Planning Intervention: A Brief Intervention to Mitigate Suicide Risk.
- 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — 988lifeline.org