Safety Planning

Building a safety plan, Jared Auten, LMSW

Safety is certainly a concept on the minds of many as we navigate a global pandemic. Our current moment highlights how a crisis, at a minimum, discombobulates us and leaves us feeling out of sorts. Instead of feeling calm and collected we might be figuratively filling the car with toilet paper or denying the fact that there is a problem in the first place (maybe this analogy is just too literal). The point is that planning for safety doesn’t have to be a reactionary response or an afterthought.

Now, safety planning as it relates to suicide prevention and intervention isn’t the same as getting ready for a global pandemic like a doomsday-prepper, but it does entail the same basic principle; if we thoughtfully prepare and plan for a crisis, then the outcome can be improved and the intensity of the experience can be reduced.

Safety planning is a preventative strategy for managing individual suicide risk and mental health crises. It is something we can do for ourselves or collaboratively with a loved one or mental health/ healthcare professional. Using basic strategies and thinking about and writing out a plan, we’re working to recognize existing protective factors and reduce risk factors during a crisis.

It goes like this: Continue reading “Safety Planning”