Safety planning
A safety plan is a short, written set of decisions you make while calm, so you do not have to make them while overwhelmed. It works because it removes the need to think clearly at the exact moment thinking clearly is hardest.
What goes in it
Keep it concrete and short enough to read in thirty seconds. Vague plans fail at the moment they are needed.
- Your early warning signs — the specific thoughts, feelings, or behaviours that show up first
- Things that help on your own: a walk, a shower, music, breathing, leaving the room
- People you can contact, with names and numbers written out
- Professionals and crisis lines, including 988 in the US
- Steps to make your environment safer, such as asking someone to hold medication or means
- Your reasons for living, in your own words
Make it findable
A plan you cannot locate is not a plan. Keep a copy where you will actually reach for it — your wallet, your phone's lock screen, the fridge — and give a copy to one person you trust.
Simply Mindfull Moments's emergency plan page lets you write and store yours privately on your own device, and print it if you want a paper copy.
Review it out loud
Walk through the plan with someone you trust while you are well. Saying it aloud tests whether the steps are realistic and gives that person permission to help if the moment comes.
Revisit it every few months, and after anything significant changes.
If you are at risk right now
If you are thinking about ending your life or you are not safe, do not wait to finish a plan. Call or text 988 in the US, text HOME to 741741, or call 911. Support is available immediately and you are allowed to use it.
Draft it in ten minutes
- 1Write your three earliest warning signs.
- 2List two things that have genuinely helped before.
- 3Write two names and their phone numbers in full.
- 4Add 988 and 741741.
- 5Save it somewhere you can reach in under ten seconds.
This guide is general self-care education, not medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If you're in distress, crisis support is available now.