Safety Plan Template for Suicide Prevention (Stanley-Brown Model)

What Is the Stanley-Brown Safety Plan?

The Safety Planning Intervention (SPI), developed by Barbara Stanley, PhD, and Gregory K. Brown, PhD, is a brief, collaborative clinical intervention that provides individuals at risk for suicide with a prioritized list of coping strategies and support resources to use during a suicidal crisis. It is one of the most widely recommended and evidence-based interventions in suicide prevention.

Unlike a no-suicide contract — which passively asks a client to promise not to attempt suicide — the safety plan gives the client an active, step-by-step roadmap for what to do when suicidal thoughts escalate. Research published in JAMA Psychiatry (2018) demonstrated that the Safety Planning Intervention, when combined with follow-up contact, reduced suicidal behavior by 45% compared to usual care.

The safety plan follows six sequential steps, designed to be used in order — starting with self-management strategies the client can employ independently and escalating to professional and emergency resources as needed.

When You Need It

• When a client endorses suicidal ideation (passive or active) during a session or assessment
• When a comprehensive suicide risk assessment identifies the client as moderate risk
• When a client has a history of suicide attempts, even if not currently endorsing ideation
• When a client is being discharged from inpatient psychiatric care or an emergency department
• As part of ongoing treatment for any client with chronic suicidal thinking
• When transitioning a client to a lower level of care

Safety Plans vs. No-Suicide Contracts

No-suicide contracts were widely used through the 1990s and early 2000s but have fallen out of favor for several important reasons:

• No evidence of effectiveness. No research has demonstrated that no-suicide contracts reduce suicide attempts or deaths. A 2007 review in Professional Psychology: Research and Practice found no empirical support for their use.
• False reassurance. Clinicians may feel falsely reassured by a signed contract, leading to less vigilant risk monitoring.
• Client burden. The contract places the burden on the client to "keep a promise" during a crisis — exactly when their judgment and coping capacity are most impaired.
• Legal risk. A no-suicide contract does not provide liability protection and may actually create liability by suggesting the clinician relied on a non-evidence-based intervention.

The Stanley-Brown Safety Plan is now the recommended standard. The Joint Commission, the VA/DoD Clinical Practice Guidelines, and the Zero Suicide framework all endorse safety planning over no-suicide contracts.

The Six Steps of the Stanley-Brown Safety Plan

Step 1: Warning Signs

Identify the internal experiences — thoughts, feelings, images, moods, or situations — that signal a suicidal crisis is beginning. These are the client's personal early-warning indicators.

Clinician guidance: Ask, "What do you typically notice first when you start feeling this way? What thoughts or feelings tell you that a crisis might be building?" Help the client be specific. "Feeling bad" is too vague; "thinking that my family would be better off without me, usually late at night after drinking" is actionable.

Step 2: Internal Coping Strategies

List activities the client can do on their own — without contacting another person — to distract from or reduce suicidal thoughts. These are self-management strategies that work for this specific client.

Clinician guidance: Ask, "What are things you can do by yourself to take your mind off your problems or help you feel even a little bit better?" These should be activities the client has actually found helpful, not generic suggestions. Exercise, journaling, listening to music, playing with a pet, taking a shower, prayer, mindfulness exercises, or watching a favorite show are common examples.

Step 3: Social Contacts for Distraction

Identify people and social settings that can provide healthy distraction — not people the client would tell about their suicidal thoughts (that comes in Step 4), but people and places that help the client feel connected and take their mind off the crisis.

Clinician guidance: Ask, "Who are the people you can be around who help you feel better, even if you don't talk about what you're going through? Are there social settings or activities that help?" Include names and phone numbers. A coffee shop, a gym, or a family gathering can also serve as a social distraction.

Step 4: People to Ask for Help

Identify specific people the client trusts enough to tell they are struggling — family members, close friends, sponsors, faith leaders, or other support persons who can provide direct help during a crisis.

Clinician guidance: Ask, "Who are the people in your life you could actually tell that you're having thoughts of suicide? Who would you trust to help you stay safe?" Include names and phone numbers. Discuss what the client would say to each person. If the client resists identifying anyone, explore the barriers and problem-solve collaboratively.

Step 5: Professionals and Agencies to Contact

List mental health professionals and crisis services the client can reach during a crisis. This typically includes the client's therapist, psychiatrist, local crisis centers, and national crisis lines.

Clinician guidance: Include your contact information and realistic availability. If you do not answer calls after hours, say so — and list resources that are available 24/7. Always include the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline and the Crisis Text Line. Include the local emergency room and any local crisis stabilization units.

Step 6: Making the Environment Safe

Collaboratively identify ways to reduce access to lethal means. Research consistently shows that reducing access to lethal means is one of the most effective suicide prevention strategies — particularly for firearms and medication stockpiles.

Clinician guidance: This is the most sensitive step. Ask, "Are there things in your environment that you might use to hurt yourself? What can we do to make your environment safer?" Discuss specific strategies: storing firearms with a trusted person or using a gun safe with the combination held by someone else, disposing of stockpiled medications, removing sharp objects. This conversation requires clinical sensitivity — the goal is collaborative problem-solving, not judgment.

Filled-In Safety Plan Example

How to Create a Safety Plan Step by Step

Step 1: Conduct a thorough suicide risk assessment first. The safety plan does not replace a risk assessment — it complements it. Before creating a safety plan, assess the client's current suicidal ideation (frequency, intensity, duration, plan, intent, access to means), history of attempts, risk factors, and protective factors. Document the risk assessment separately.

Step 2: Introduce the safety plan collaboratively. Frame the safety plan as a tool the client creates with you, not something prescribed to them. Say something like, "I'd like us to create a plan together that you can use if these thoughts get worse — a step-by-step guide that's personalized to you. Would you be willing to do that?"

Step 3: Work through each step in order. The six steps are designed to be sequential — starting with what the client can do independently and escalating to external help. Spend time on each step. Do not rush. The process of creating the plan is itself therapeutic — it communicates that you take the client's pain seriously and are working alongside them.

Step 4: Be specific and concrete. Vague entries are not useful in a crisis. "Call a friend" is less helpful than "Call David at (512) 555-0183 and say 'I'm having a rough night and need to talk.'" Help the client anticipate exactly what they would do and say.

Step 5: Address means restriction directly. Step 6 is often the hardest conversation, but it is among the most clinically important. Research from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health demonstrates that 90% of people who survive a suicide attempt do not go on to die by suicide — meaning that reducing access to means during a crisis can be lifesaving. Approach this step with compassion, not as an interrogation.

Step 6: Give the client a copy. The client must leave with the safety plan in hand — printed, photographed, or saved digitally. A safety plan locked in your file cabinet is useless during a 2 AM crisis.

Step 7: Document the safety plan in the clinical record. Note that a safety plan was created collaboratively, that the client received a copy, and summarize any means restriction actions taken. Store a copy of the plan in the chart.

Step 8: Review and update regularly. The safety plan is a living document. Review it when risk level changes, when the client reports a crisis, when support contacts change, or at regular intervals for high-risk clients.

Common Mistakes

1. Treating the safety plan as a one-time paperwork exercise. Creating a safety plan and filing it away without ever reviewing it renders it useless. High-risk clients should have their safety plan reviewed regularly — some clinicians check in on it at the start of every session.

2. Being too vague in the entries. "Do something fun" or "call someone" are not actionable during a crisis when the client's cognitive capacity is narrowed. Every entry should include specific names, phone numbers, and concrete actions.

3. Skipping Step 6 (means restriction) because it feels uncomfortable. Means restriction is one of the most evidence-based components of suicide prevention. Avoiding this conversation because it feels awkward or intrusive is a clinical and ethical failure. Practice having this conversation — it gets easier with experience.

4. Using a safety plan for clients who need a higher level of care. A safety plan is not appropriate as the sole intervention for a client in acute, imminent danger. If the client has a specific plan, access to means, and expressed intent, they likely need crisis stabilization, emergency evaluation, or inpatient care — not just a safety plan.

5. Not giving the client a copy. This is surprisingly common. The safety plan must be in the client's possession — on their phone, in their wallet, on their refrigerator. If the client does not have it when they need it, it cannot help them.