how to write a safety plan! 🔆

🚨 TRIGGER WARNING: Mentions suicide, sexual assault, and car accidents. 🚨

Hey guys! For my first post, I thought I’d write a step-by-step guide on how to write a Safety Plan.

If you don’t know, a Safety Plan is a ‘plan’ of sorts (obviously) that:

• Helps you to know what your warning signs/triggers are

• What you can do to cope

• Sometimes includes ‘Reasons for Living’, and

• Has support hotlines/contacts and their numbers.

Since I myself had to write a Safety Plan after I attempted suicide by overdose, I thought I would help others who need to write one, as well. So, without further ado, let’s get into the steps!

Step One — Warning Signs & Triggers

This is normally the first section of your Safety Plan. Here, you need to summarise what happens when you start to get worse again, and what triggers you may have. In mine, I talked about how I entertain thoughts like how worthless I am, how nobody likes me or loves me; how I become agitated and snappy than normal; how I isolate myself from others. Some others could be:

• Lower self-esteem than normal

• Not feeling anything

• Not wanting to go out and do things (losing interest in things you normally love)

• Not engaging in hygenic practices (showering, shaving, brushing teeth, etc.)

• Appetits fluctuates (sometimes you eat a lot, other times you eat very little).

Those are just some of the things you could add to your list for warning signs.

Next, you add what triggers you (if you have anything). I was in a car crash and it affected me a lot. For me, my triggers were mainly seeing things I wore in the crash, thinking a car I was in was going to roll again, being in a place similar to where the crash happened. For you, you may have been in a completely different situation, like a sexual assault; which means you’ll have completely different triggers to me, and not only me, but everyone else. Everyone is different.

It may be hard, but you need to write these things down. They’ll help you, your family, your friends, and even possibly your therapist to recognise them when they occur and know how they can help.

Please, please remember that you’re not worth less just because these awful things happened to you, whatever it might be. Please remember that your triggers and panic attacks and night terrors and everything else are completely valid and a completely normal reaction in the aftermath. If you ever need to talk to someone, I’m always here. I don’t know if you can send messages on Hinterland, but you can contact me via my Instagram handle, @cheloftheseaa. Just chuck me a DM and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. Remember I love you, and you’re valid.

Step Two — Coping Skills

The second step in writing a safety plan is to add some coping skills or strategies you can use to help bring you back from that dark place you get in. Coping skills are very useful, and it’s good to add it to the plan so whenever you’re feeling panicked or depressed, you can check your plan and go, “Ahh, yes; I should do one of these things.”

For me, my coping skills are things I enjoy doing and help calm me, like listening to music, getting lost in a book, going and sitting by the ocean, or making art.

A suggestion I have for you is to take a brief ice-cold shower! I know, I know — what could a cold shower do? Well, having a cold shower is actually considered as a form of hydrotherapy. Once you get over the initial shock (“OMG I’T’S SO COLD!!!”), it’s actually very invigorating! It helps alleviate depressive symptoms by sending electric nerve impulses to the brain, which results in an uplifting effect. 

If you want to read more about ice-cold showers, I’ve added some links to some articles I read while writing this one. You’re welcome. 

So, find things you love doing, and add them as coping skills when you’re feeling out of it. They’re guaranteed to help!

Step Three — Reasons for Living

This is a more serious step. This is listing the reasons why you want to live. I can’t speak for anyone, but I can tell you that writing these things down has kept me going for a loooonnng time. Here’s some questions you can ask yourself:

1. What haven’t I done yet?

2. What do I want to do with my life?

3. How will the people I love feel if I go through with *insert thing here*? (And don’t be irrational and say they don’t love you, because they do. I promise you they do).

4. What do I love to do/see that I won’t be able to do again if I’m not here?

5. What will I be robbing myself of? (e.g. finding love, having a family, etc.)

These are just some of things you can ask yourself while trying to find reasons to stay alive and fighting. Remember you don’t have to have all of them at once — just keep thinking and finding over time. It’s not a rush.

Step Four: Support and Contacts

Here we are! You’ve reached the final section of your Safety Plan! You’re almost done! 

In this section, you add your personal hotlines. These can include suicide hotlines, emergency numbers, and people you know and trust to talk you through an episode. 

I’ll add hotlines you can add to your plan a separate article, otherwise this one would be way too long!

I hope this helped some people out there who need to write Safety Plans! Look out for my next article on support hotlines you can add to your plan! 

Enjoy your days, darlings! 💘