Safety is necessary for trauma healing, and every person deserves to feel safe. But, creating safety in our lives can be challenging.
 
A personalized safety plan is one of the best trauma-informed resources you can add to your toolkit. Whether you're interested in creating a sense of safety in your personal life or you're working to create a safe workplace, our safety plan template will help you create an effective safety plan.
 
Most of us believe we know what we would do in a crisis, but when that time comes, we often find that we need more support than we originally anticipated. Planning ahead is always a good idea, especially when it comes to your well-being and safety.
 
 
What does a safety plan do?
Identifies the warning signs of stress and burnout
Provides specific coping skills to help you cope with stress
Pinpoints effective distraction techniques to use during distress
Lists the people in your support system who you can talk to
Provides emergency crisis care solutions
 
As part of our trauma-informed implementation plans for organizations, we encourage every person to complete a safety plan. Safety plans help us cope with stress, increase our self-awareness, meet our needs, and create the safety we need to heal.
 
Please note that safety plans are living documents.  They change over time according to our unique needs and abilities. You may list a few great coping strategies, only to discover that they don't work for you. This is normal. It is not a sign that your safety plan doesn't fit. Don't stop using your safety plan. Just update it! What works for someone else may not work for you, and that's okay. Keep looking for coping skills that work for you.
 
It's also common for certain coping skills to work for us in certain situations and not in others. This is why having more options is better! Let your safety plan grow with you.
 
If you have trouble filling out your safety plan, don't worry. We've provided a sample safety plan in this free download to help guide you.