Safety planning is a useful tool that can be used to help prevent crisis. It helps identify warning signs, coping strategies, support networks, and personal protective factors. Safety planning builds on existing strengths and comes from a gratitude mindset. Safety plans can be completed when you are in a healthy mindset, so you are able to draw from positive things in your life. Goal setting, habit tracking, and creating a safety plan are all things you can do to protect yourself against suicide. When creating your safety plan, you should do it alongside people who can support you during the process. Safety plans list warning signs for poor mental health so that the people supporting you have an idea of what to look for before crisis hits. They also help to remind you of your strengths. In your safety plan, you can list good distractions and coping mechanisms. These can be things that you are good at to help shift your perspective. Sometimes all it takes is a glimpse of hope to hold on for one more day. Brave conversations save lives. That is why we safety plan.
