In a crisis, thinking narrows and options disappear. A safety plan is a written sequence you make in advance, so your best judgment is already on paper when you need it. It's the most important page in this manual.
This page follows the Stanley-Brown Safety Planning Intervention. In a 2018 study of emergency departments, including VA hospitals, patients who made a safety plan with follow-up calls had roughly half as many suicidal behaviors over the next six months.
Thoughts, moods, situations that tell me a crisis may be building.
Drills from this manual and other things that take my mind off it.
Who I can be around, and where I can go, without explaining anything.
Names and numbers of people I can tell what's going on.
988 (Veterans press 1) · my therapist or doctor · nearest emergency room.
Who will hold my firearms, or where they'll be locked up, and how I'll limit medications at home.
One thing worth staying for.
Everyone should have one, including people who have never felt suicidal. Work through the steps in order during a crisis, moving to the next if the last one didn't work. Build it with a therapist if you have one; they can help you make it more specific.
| ✕ | Fault: Writing it during a crisisCorrection: Build it on a calm day. A crisis is when you use it. |
| ✕ | Fault: Skipping step 06Correction: Putting time and distance between you and lethal means is one of the most effective steps there is. |
| ✕ | Fault: Filing it and forgetting itCorrection: Review it every few months, and after any hard stretch. |
If you reach step 05, use it. 988 by call or text, Veterans press 1 or text 838255. In immediate danger, 911.