CRISIS TOOL

Safety plan template.

Medically reviewed by Shariq Refai, MD, MBA · Updated June 2026 · About 7 minutes

A safety plan is a short written document you make for yourself, ideally with a clinician, that you follow when warning signs of a crisis show up. It's the most studied brief intervention for getting through a moment of high risk. The reason it helps isn't because the steps in it are new information. It's because a brain in the middle of a crisis isn't well suited to picking from a menu of options. The plan moves the decision making out of the crisis moment into a calmer one.

The framework most clinicians use is the Stanley-Brown Safety Planning Intervention. The biggest finding from the research is that people who leave an emergency department with a written safety plan are less likely to attempt suicide in the months that follow. The means restriction step, near the end of this template, is the single highest leverage piece. For people on prescription psychiatric medications, that step has specific implications we'll cover.

The template below follows that framework. Fill it in here, save it to your device, and print a copy to keep with you. None of what you type gets sent anywhere; the save button keeps the plan in your browser only.

Seek immediate help today.

Call or text 988, call 911, or go to the nearest emergency department if any of these are happening:

Thoughts of suicide or self harm
A plan, intent, or access to means
A suspected medication overdose (yours or someone else's), including too many pills, mixing medications, or mixing medication with alcohol
A serious adverse reaction to a medication (chest pain, seizure, severe confusion, very high fever with muscle rigidity, sudden severe agitation)
An inability to care for yourself, eat, drink, or stay safe
Hallucinations, delusions, or a break from reality
A sudden severe change in mood, judgment, or behavior
Substance use that's escalated past a point that feels controllable

988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline · call or text 988 any time, free and confidential.

Crisis Text Line · text HOME to 741741.

Poison Control · 1-800-222-1222 for medication overdose or accidental ingestion. Emergency · call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department.

Step 1. Warning signs.

Write down what you notice when things are starting to escalate. Specific thoughts, body sensations, situations, or behaviors that have shown up before a crisis hit. The more specific the better. It can also include medication related warning signs: missing doses for several days in a row, taking extra doses, finding yourself thinking about the pills as a way out, or a sudden severe shift in mood after starting or stopping a medication.

Step 2. Things I can do on my own.

List things you can do by yourself that have helped, even a little. The list doesn't need to be impressive. Small concrete items usually work better than grand ones. A specific song. A specific friend's house to drive to. A grounding exercise. Cold water on the face. A walk to a specific corner and back. Holding something cold. Stepping into a different room.

Step 3. People and places that can distract.

Places you can go or people whose presence is calming, even if you don't talk to them about what's happening. The goal in this step is distraction, not disclosure. A coffee shop where you can sit among other people. A specific friend's house. A park bench you know. A family member who's steady.

Step 4. People I can ask for help.

Two or three people you can call or text when warning signs are showing up. People who know you, who don't escalate in response to crisis, who can stay with you. Write their names and how to reach them, so you don't have to scroll through your contacts in a moment when scrolling is hard.

Step 5. Professionals and agencies.

Services and clinicians you can contact. Some are prefilled. Add your specific clinicians and your local emergency department.

988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Call or text 988. Free, confidential, 24 hours a day.

Crisis Text Line. Text HOME to 741741.

Poison Control. 1-800-222-1222. For medication overdose, accidental ingestion, or a question about a medication interaction.

Prescribing clinician (psychiatrist, NP, or primary care doctor).

Therapist (if you have one).

Pharmacist.

Local emergency department.

Telepsychiatry option. shrinkMD. Evaluations usually within a few days.

Step 6. Making the environment safer.

The strongest evidence in the whole safety plan is in this step. Limiting access to lethal means during high risk periods reduces death by suicide more than any other single intervention. For PsychiatryRx readers, that includes specific medication considerations.

Specific examples. Storing firearms with a trusted person or in a locked container with ammunition stored separately. Keeping prescription medications in a locked box and giving the key to someone you trust during high risk periods. Asking a partner or family member to hold a prescription bottle for you and dose you daily during the higher risk window. Clearing large quantities of certain over the counter medications (acetaminophen, ibuprofen, antihistamines, sleep aids) out of the house. Not driving alone when warning signs are present.

For psychiatric medications specifically. Don't store more than a short supply at home during a high risk period if your safety plan calls for limiting access. Talk to your prescriber about whether a smaller refill quantity makes sense for now. If you have leftover medications from a prior taper or a medication change, dispose of them through a take back program at a pharmacy or use the FDA disposal guidance. Don't keep old medications in a drawer where they can be reached in a moment of crisis.

If means restriction feels difficult or impossible to plan on your own, that's a reason to ask for help with this step specifically. A clinician, a 988 counselor, or a family member can think it through with you. The goal isn't permanent restriction. The goal is a workable safety net during the periods when you need one.

Nothing gets sent anywhere. The save button keeps the plan in your browser. The print button uses your device's printer.

What we know about safety plans.

The reason a safety plan works isn't because the steps in it are new information. They aren't. Most of what ends up on a good safety plan is something the person already knew somewhere. The mechanism is that the plan moves the decision making out of the crisis moment.

The Stanley-Brown intervention has been studied in emergency department settings and in outpatient care. The largest pragmatic trial (Stanley et al., 2018) found that patients discharged from VA emergency departments with a Stanley-Brown safety plan, plus a brief structured follow up call, were significantly less likely to attempt suicide in the six months that followed compared to usual care. The means restriction step (Step 6) carries the most weight in the evidence.

Safety plans work best when they're built with a clinician and revised over time. If you don't have a clinician right now, the template above is a reasonable starting point you can build with on your own, and you can refine it later in a clinical visit or at shrinkMD. The version you write today doesn't have to be the final version.

If you're in crisis right now, the Suicide and Crisis Resources page has the routing, including 988, Poison Control, and 911.