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Keep Yourself Safe

This page provides day-to-day suggestions that can help you to manage your wellbeing and information on safety planning that can be used to help keep yourself safe. 

If you are struggling with mental health challenges, including thoughts of suicide, there are things that you can do to help yourself. Remember, you are not alone, and help is available.

Suggestions for Coping Day-to-Day

It is important to try to support your wellbeing and keep yourself safe. Oftentimes people can develop tools or strategies that can be used on a daily or regular basis to help support overall wellness and increase resiliency. Some suggestions for coping day-to-day are:

  • Connect with people that you can trust and talk to
  • Have a safe place that you can go where you feel like no one can harm you and you will not harm yourself
  • Distract yourself with your favourite things, such as funny videos, a comforting hobby, or a nostalgic movie.
  • Stay involved or get involved with activities or hobbies you enjoy 
  • Get involved with helping others, e.g. through volunteering
    • Tip: many cities or regions have an organization that helps to match volunteers with volunteer opportunities. If you live in Waterloo Region, you can check out Volunteer Waterloo Region
  • Set small, manageable goals and try to focus on what you have accomplished
    • Tip: If you have difficulty remembering your accomplishments, try to keep a list of the things you have done that made you proud or feel good. Place this list somewhere that you can see on a regular basis as a positive reminder of your strengths.
  • Discover a way to express yourself and your feelings, such as through journalling, art or music.
  • Seek help from a mental health professional or organization such as the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA)
  • Learn more about tools you can use to help yourself such as mental health apps, the Wheel of Wellbeing, or the Feelings Wheel.

Safety Planning

A safety plan is “a document that supports and guides someone when they are experiencing thoughts of suicide, to help them avoid a state of intense suicidal crisis” (Centre for Suicide Prevention, 2019). A safety plan may help to keep someone safe from suicide by identifying the individuals’ strengths, including coping strategies that can be used, people that can be contacted for support, and reasons to live.

Safety plans can be effective because the individual experiencing thoughts of suicide is a co-creator of the plan and identifies a range of options for coping and support, helping them to feel like they have some control. A safety plan aims to create a safer environment through reducing access to lethal means of suicide. It also focuses on what the person can do, instead of can’t do, and emphasizes the collaborative

Developing A Safety Plan

A safety plan should be developed during a period of mental wellbeing, or when an individual is stable and no longer experiencing crisis. Safety plans are often co-developed with a member of your support team or a trusted loved one. You also may be able to develop a safety plan on your own. It can be created in one-sitting, or can involve a process over a period of time.

There are different versions of safety plans, but most include identifying and listing the following components:

  • Warning signs that indicate a suicidal crisis may be developing.
  • Coping strategies that can be used to divert thoughts, including suicidal thoughts.
  • Places and people that can be used as a distraction from thoughts of suicide.
  • People that can be contracted in a crisis, along with their contact information.
  • Mental health providers and the hours they can be reached, as well as 24/7 emergency contact numbers that can be used in a crisis.
  • Steps to be taken to remove access to means of suicide from the environment.
  • Important reasons to live, or how/why that person is still alive.

It is important to review the safety plan regularly and to revise it as often as needed. It can also be helpful to review the safety plan after it is used, to edit any coping skills or contact persons who were not accessible or effective.

For a more detailed explanation of each step, including guiding questions and examples, check out the Safety Plans to Prevent Suicide toolkit by the Centre for Suicide Prevention here.

Safety Plan Formats

Although the definition of a safety plan mentions that it can be a document, there are actually a number of different formats you can use for your safety plan. Formats for safety plans may include:

  • Document with words, images or both!
  • Keyring with cards
  • Using a phone app, such as the BeSafe app
  • Using the notes feature on your phone, tablet or other device
  • Regardless of the format(s) you choose to use, it is important that your safety plan is easy to access when you are struggling.

Resources For Further Learning

Safety plans to prevent suicide – Centre for Suicide Prevention (suicideinfo.ca)

This toolkit provides a deeper explanation of safety planning and the seven steps to developing a safety plan.

Home | My Safety Plan

This website is operated by Vibrant Emotional Health and is a web-based platform to help you develop your safety plan. After completing the form, users have the option to send the safety plan to themselves via text or email, or can save it to their device as a PDF.

References

Centre for Suicide Prevention (2019). Safety plans to prevent suicide. Accessed from: Safety plans to prevent suicide – Centre for Suicide Prevention (suicideinfo.ca)

Marshall, C. et al. (2022). Effectiveness of suicide safety planning interventions: A systemic review informing occupational therapy. Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 1-29.

Nuij, C. et al. (2021). Safety planning-type interventions for suicide prevention: meta-analysis. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 219,4129-426.

For more resources, check out: