Suicide Safety Plan: Write a Step by Step Plan to Stay Safe in Your Own Words

About this tool

A suicide safety plan is a written set of coping steps and support contacts to use when suicidal thoughts arise. This template helps you put those steps in your own words and keep them within reach. If you are having thoughts of suicide, please know that you matter and that help is available right now. You can call or text 988 in the US to reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, or text HOME to 741741 for the Crisis Text Line. If you are in immediate danger, call 911 or your local emergency number. You do not have to face this alone, and this moment can pass.

A safety plan is a written, prioritized list of coping strategies and sources of support you can use before or during a suicidal crisis. This tool draws on the Safety Planning Intervention developed by Barbara Stanley and Gregory Brown and described in their foundational paper. Their clinical approach includes assessment, collaborative planning, and review. Research comparing safety planning with follow-up against usual emergency department care found fewer suicidal behaviors and greater outpatient engagement in the intervention group. That observational comparison does not prove that completing this online worksheet alone has the same effects. Preparing a plan in a calmer moment can give you specific actions to refer to when thinking feels difficult.

The plan moves through escalating steps. First, recognizing your personal warning signs. Then coping skills you can do entirely on your own, followed by people and social settings that can distract and steady you, then people you can ask directly for help, and finally professionals and crisis services. A vital separate step is making your environment safer by reducing access to means, which research shows is one of the most effective ways to prevent suicide, because crises are often brief and impulsive.

Make the plan with a clinician whenever possible, and involve a trusted person who can help you use it. Save or print a copy you can reach quickly, and decide who should have access to it. Consider whether someone could see sensitive names or details on a shared device or printed page. Read through the plan together so your supporter knows what help you are asking for and how to contact professional services if needed.

A safety plan is not static. Revisit it every few months, after any crisis, or whenever your warning signs, supports, or circumstances change. What kept you safe last year may not be enough today, and a plan you have not looked at in months is harder to trust in the moment you need it. Keep a copy somewhere you can reach quickly, such as a photo on your phone, and consider giving a copy to someone who supports you. Check whether saved phone numbers still work and whether the places you listed are accessible when you might need them. Replace supports that are no longer available rather than relying on an outdated contact.

A safety plan is a tool for the crisis in front of you. It sits alongside, not in place of, ongoing treatment: therapy, medication if prescribed, and regular check-ins with a provider all reduce the chance a crisis develops in the first place. If you do not currently have a therapist, the Psychology.com therapist directory can help you find one, and building your plan together with a clinician is the version supported by the research behind this model. A directory search is for arranging ongoing support; it is not an emergency response service. You do not need a completed plan or a screening result before asking for urgent help.

Make each entry usable in the situation you are planning for. Instead of "contact someone," write a name, a current number, and an alternative if that person does not answer. Ask the person whether they are comfortable being included. You might prepare a message such as "I am having thoughts of suicide and need help staying safe. Can you stay with me while I contact support?" A support person does not have to manage a crisis alone.

Discuss reducing access to dangerous items with a clinician and a trusted support person while you are able to plan. Agree who will take responsibility for the changes and how you will confirm they happened. Avoid treating a written intention as a completed safety step. If you are already in immediate danger, move toward urgent support instead of trying to manage potentially dangerous items by yourself.

The Warning Signs Worksheet can help you name the experiences that tell you to use your plan. Coping with Self-Harm Urges and the Coping Skills Library offer related educational material for planning with support. A safety plan is not a promise that you will never struggle again. If an action does not help, use another support or seek professional help; you have not failed the plan.

Reviewed by David A. Brooks, PhD, ABPP, ABN
Reviewed for fidelity to the Stanley-Brown Safety Planning Intervention, safe framing, and inclusion of crisis resources.

References

1. Stanley B, Brown GK. Safety planning intervention: a brief intervention to mitigate suicide risk. Cogn Behav Pract. 2012;19(2):256-264.
2. Stanley B, et al. Comparison of the safety planning intervention with follow-up vs usual care of suicidal patients treated in the emergency department. JAMA Psychiatry. 2018;75(9):894-900.
3. 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
4. Stanley-Brown Safety Planning Intervention. Intervention tasks and safety plan steps. https://suicidesafetyplan.com/
5. Stanley B, et al. Comparison of the safety planning intervention with follow-up vs usual care of suicidal patients treated in the emergency department. Study record. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29998307/
6. 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Crisis support by call, text, or chat. https://988lifeline.org/
7. Crisis Text Line. Text HOME to 741741 for crisis support in the United States. https://www.crisistextline.org/

Suicide Safety Plan FAQ