Free Safety Plan Template

What is a safety plan?

A safety plan is a structured, collaborative document created with a client when suicidal ideation, self-harm urges, or other acute risk factors are present. The safety plan is not a "no-suicide contract" (which research shows is ineffective and not appropriate); instead, it is a practical guide that helps the client recognize warning signs of escalating risk and move through a sequence of coping and support strategies before reaching a crisis point. The Stanley-Brown safety plan format, developed at the University of Pennsylvania and supported by suicide-prevention research, includes six key components: warning signs that crisis is escalating, internal coping strategies the client can use, people or activities that provide distraction, social supports to reach out to, professional resources to contact, and means-restriction strategies or other safety precautions. Safety plans are essential documentation in any mental health setting where suicide risk is assessed. They are required by most managed-care contracts and many state licensing boards when suicidal ideation is present. The plan demonstrates that the clinician conducted a safety assessment, collaborated with the client on protective strategies, and documented the plan explicitly.

What's in this template

This free safety plan template includes all six Stanley-Brown components:

1. Warning Signs: Internal experiences (thoughts, feelings, behaviors) that indicate the client is moving toward a crisis. Examples: increase in hopelessness, social withdrawal, heavy drinking, insomnia, intense anger. The client identifies what warning signs are specific to them.

2. Internal Coping Strategies: Coping skills the client can use when they notice warning signs, before reaching out to others. Examples: breathing exercises, grounding techniques, self-soothing activities, distraction, journaling, physical activity. Strategies should be concrete and something the client has successfully used before.

3. Social Distractions: People and places the client can go to or contact for distraction when warning signs appear. Not crisis-level support, just people or activities that shift focus and mood. Examples: call a friend, go to a coffee shop, spend time at a gym, visit a park.

4. Social Supports: Specific people in the client's life the client can ask for help, including permission-level support ("I am comfortable telling this person I'm having suicidal thoughts"). Each person's name and contact information. Family members, friends, mentors, faith leaders, sponsors if applicable.

5. Professional Supports: Crisis contacts and professional resources. Therapist name and phone number; emergency services (911); crisis line with specific number for the client's region; psychiatrist or prescriber contact; hospital emergency department information if relevant.

6. Means Restriction: Specific steps the client will take to reduce access to lethal means if they have a specific plan or high risk. Examples: giving medications to a trusted person to hold, securing firearms, reducing alcohol access. Concrete and specific to the client's actual risk factors.

The plan is reviewed regularly and updated as the client's risk factors, supports, and coping capacity change.

When to use safety plans

Safety plans are essential documentation for:

• Any client expressing current suicidal ideation or intent
• Clients with a history of suicide attempts or self-harm
• Clients in acute crisis or destabilization
• Psychiatric hospitalization discharge planning (federal requirement)
• Risk assessment and crisis intervention appointments
• Ongoing individual therapy when suicide risk is identified
• Any setting where suicide risk assessment is standard (ERs, psychiatric clinics, crisis teams)

Safety plans are not optional when suicide risk is present. They are mandated by most practice standards, managed-care contracts, and state licensing requirements.

How to use the template with Scriber

Scriber supports safety-plan documentation by capturing the conversation between you and the client as you collaboratively develop the plan. You guide the client through identifying warning signs specific to them, coping strategies they have actually used, people in their life they trust, and safety-restriction steps they are willing to take. Scriber transcribes the session and structures the content into the six safety-plan domains, creating a draft plan that reflects the conversation. You review the draft, add any clinical guidance or clarifications, confirm all contact information is accurate, and finalize the plan. The client receives a copy to keep at home. You retain a copy in the chart and reference it on all future risk assessments. The documented plan becomes the baseline against which you assess whether risk is escalating or de-escalating in subsequent sessions.

Download (free)

This template is available as a PDF and as an editable DOCX file. Print it to give to the client; keep a copy in the chart. Review and update the plan at each session if risk factors shift.

[Download PDF]

Related templates

Looking for other assessment and planning tools?

• Mental Status Exam Checklist — Structured assessment of mental status including suicide risk screening
• Biopsychosocial Assessment Template — Comprehensive intake that documents risk history and protective factors