Safety Plan worksheet (free PDF)

A personal safety plan you build before the hardest moments: your warning signs, coping steps, people who steady you, and crisis lines like 988 written down and ready when you need them.

A plan you make before you need it

A safety plan is a set of steps you write down when you are feeling steady, so it is ready on the days you are not. The most painful feelings tend to come in waves: they rise, crest, and eventually ease. A written plan helps you get through the crest without having to think clearly at the worst possible moment. This plan works best when you build it together with a therapist or counselor and share it with someone you trust. It supports the care you are getting; it never replaces it.

If you need help right now

If you are in immediate danger, call 911 now. In the US, you can call or text 988, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, any hour of any day. It is free, confidential, and staffed by people who want to help. You do not have to wait until things feel unbearable to reach out. Asking for help early is not overreacting; it is the plan working.

Step 1: my warning signs

Warning signs are your earliest signals that a hard stretch is starting: thoughts, feelings, body sensations, or changes in what you do. Naming them helps you start this plan sooner, when it is easier to change course.

Step 2: things I can do on my own

These are ways to steady yourself without needing anyone else, useful for taking the edge off while a wave passes. Check the ones that have helped before, or that you are willing to try.

Hold something cold, or splash cold water on my faceBreathe out longer than I breathe in, for two minutesTake a shower and change into clean clothesStep outside and walk, even just around the blockPut on a playlist, podcast, or show I know comforts meSit with my pet or hold something softWrite down what is happening in my head, without editing itDo something with my hands: cook, draw, clean one small corner

Step 3: people and places that steady me

List a few people you could call, text, or simply sit near, even if you never mention how you are feeling. Sometimes company is the medicine. Add places where you feel safer or less alone, like a coffee shop, a library, a gym, or a friend's kitchen.

Step 4: professionals and crisis lines

Write down the professionals on your side and how to reach them: your therapist or counselor, your doctor, an after-hours clinic line. Keep the crisis numbers beside them. In the US, call or text 988 any time, day or night. If you are in immediate danger, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room.

Step 5: make my space safer

Putting time and distance between you and anything you could use to hurt yourself is one of the most protective steps you can take. You do not have to do this part alone; a trusted person or your therapist can help. Check what you are willing to do.

Ask someone I trust to hold extra medication, keeping only a few days' supply with meStore firearms outside my home for now, or locked away with someone else keeping the keysMove anything I have thought of using out of my home or out of easy reachTake a break from alcohol and other substances during rough stretchesPlan to spend the hardest nights around other peopleMute or log out of accounts and group chats that drag me down late at nightAsk a trusted person to help me make these changes

Step 6: my reasons for living

Write down what keeps you here: people, pets, places you have not seen yet, things left unfinished, small pleasures like the first cup of coffee. They do not have to be big or noble. On the worst days, this list remembers what the pain makes hard to see.

Make this plan easy to reach

A safety plan only works if you can find it in a hard moment. Decide where it will live, who you will share it with, and when you will review it with your therapist or counselor. Then note anything you realized while building it.

Safety Plan