Mark Henick · Personal Tool
Safety
Planning Tool
Build a practical plan with appropriate support, then keep a copy somewhere you can reach. Download a blank fillable PDF or one with your answers. Both remain editable.
What is a safety plan?
A personal planning aid, not a clinical risk assessment, a safety guarantee or a replacement for professional care. Develop and review it with a qualified professional where possible. Do not wait to finish this plan if there is immediate danger; use local emergency services.
Prepare and review the plan with a qualified professional where possible. Check that contacts are current and that the steps are feasible. You do not need to finish one step before reaching out for help. Without account access, keep your answers by downloading a private copy before leaving this page. Downloads contain personal information; store and share them carefully.
Include thoughts, feelings, situations or behaviours you have noticed. These are reminders to use support, not a test that predicts whether you are safe.
Choose what has been useful or what you could realistically try. Skip or stop an activity that increases distress. You can ask for help at any point.
Consider where you could go or whom you could spend time with. Check practical details such as opening hours, transport and accessibility. This is different from explicitly asking someone for crisis support.
Ask how and when they can help, and include a backup. No one person needs to be your whole support system. Seek urgent professional help when it is needed.
Check availability, contact routes and any limits to confidentiality. A clinician may not answer immediately. Do not leave a delayed message instead of seeking emergency help for immediate danger.
Making the Environment Safer
Steps to reduce access to means during a crisis.
Discuss practical steps with a qualified professional or trusted support. Do not put yourself at risk, confront someone with a weapon or change prescribed medication without professional guidance.
Leave this blank if it is not useful. Difficulty finding an answer does not mean you have failed. A plan is not a promise to feel hopeful, and you still deserve support.
Download a private copy to keep your answers before leaving this page.
References and further reading
Safety planning is a collaborative process involving coping options, contacts and safer surroundings. A 2018 cohort comparison in US Veterans Affairs emergency departments found that safety planning with follow-up was associated with fewer suicidal behaviours and greater treatment engagement. It was not a randomized trial, and it does not show that completing this website worksheet alone prevents suicide.
- Stanley-Brown Safety Planning Intervention. (n.d.). Steps to the Stanley-Brown Safety Plan.
The developers describe a collaborative clinical process, not merely completion of a form. Reasons for living are optional.
- Stanley, B., Brown, G. K., Brenner, L. A., Galfalvy, H. C., Currier, G. W., Knox, K. L., Chaudhury, S. R., Bush, A. L., & Green, K. L. (2018). Comparison of the Safety Planning Intervention with follow-up vs usual care of suicidal patients treated in the emergency department. JAMA Psychiatry, 75(9), 894-900.
Cohort comparison in nine US Veterans Affairs emergency departments. Safety planning plus follow-up was associated with fewer suicidal behaviours and greater treatment engagement; this was not random assignment.
© 2026 Mark Henick. Personal planning, not professional mental health care. · markhenick.com