Safety planning involves creating a structured plan – ideally with support from your health professional or someone you trust – that you work through when you’re experiencing suicidal thoughts, feelings, distress or crisis.
Your safety plan starts with things you can do by yourself, such as thinking about your reasons to live and distracting yourself with enjoyable activities. It then moves on to coping strategies and people you can contact for support – your friends, family and health professionals.
The safety planning model was developed in the US by suicide prevention experts Barbara Stanley and Gregory Brown. It has been used extensively by US veterans’ health organisations, hospital emergency departments and high schools, and there is strong evidence that it works. Many health professionals in Australia also use some form of safety planning to support clients experiencing suicidal thoughts or feelings, or after a suicide attempt.
The BeyondNow app takes the principles of safety planning and makes it even easier to use – so rather than carrying around a piece of paper, you’ve got it on your phone at all times. It’s free to download from the Apple Store or Google Play.
Absolutely it can be apart of your safety plan. While there's lots of guided ones out there, you get to choose what you like and what can either keep yourself safe, or be a 'protector'/reason for living.
You might even want to build on that so it becomes more than 'afraid of surviving another attempt' i.e. what else is within that fear? You could even include things like pictures of your family or friends - it all counts.
Guess I have never really thought about a safety plan. But wouldn't u need a pre-existing support system in place to come up with an effective safety plan? (not meant to be sarcastic just curious). As someone with no support network I haven't really considered a safety plan. But this thread has got me thinking so that is a start! Hope u are all well and safe at the moment.
No, you don't need a pre-existing support team- of course it's wonderful if you have one, but it's not necessary. Often with safety plans it's handy to have someone to call - but that can be someone like Beyond Blue, Lifeline, Kids Helpline or the Suicide Call-Back Service. If you're not comfortable in calling them these organisations also have web-chats as well, and with Lifeline you can even text them.
If none of these feel like an option for you, you can leave it blank and move on to the next part. Your safety plan is yours and there aren't any rules about how it should look like 🙂
Lovely idea for a plan . I'm sure everyone responded has the same good intentions... but some people actually don't have (good in their lives, and i haven't heard it yet because it would be removed but some people just dont wanna be safe and live . So what
Thank you for your comments here. So I take it that you don't see the point of a plan because you don't want to live (and follow it)? My guess is that since you are apart of these forums, and have even been posting a bit - maybe there's a part of you that does want to be safe and a part of you that does want to live?
If people can recognise any good in their lives then that's really fortunate - and maybe that's a person that cares about them, or someone they care about, their pet or even something else like a piece of chocolate or a movie they like. If they can't though, then maybe it's finding that something rather that keeps them here, no matter what that looks like.
Dear Guest_4593, thanks for posting on our forums. It must be really tough when people feel like they have nothing good to live for. It is important to note that sometimes depression can make it hard to recognise the good things in one's life. Also, having nothing good in one's life at the moment does not mean that this will always be the case. Nevertheless, feeling this way would be incredibly difficult.
We hope that you aren't feeling this way. If you are, we encourage you to make contact with the Beyond Blue Support Service on 1300 22 4636 or via Webchat (www.beyondblue.org.au/getsupport). One of our friendly counsellors will be able to talk through these feelings with you and can offer support, advice and referrals. If your life is in immediate danger at any point, we encourage you to contact emergency services on 000 (Triple zero).
We hope you find some comfort on the forums. Please continue to post as you see fit.
In a nut shell No. I suppose I have had in the past but they are so out of date and not relavent now that they wouldn’t work. I mean honestly I don’t even think my hubby is aware of where I am mentally.
I am as safe as I have always been and I’m planning on seeing my go this week to get more support so🤷♀️ Here’s hoping things work out a bit better soon
