The safety plan: what it's for and how to build one
· 2 min read · By The Orekio team
Updated
The safety plan is a brief, structured, co-produced tool for people who are going through, or at risk of going through, a suicidal crisis. It is not an emergency measure: it is prepared calmly, during a quiet appointment, so it is available when the person needs it.
What it isn't
The safety plan is not a "no-suicide contract". Asking a patient to promise not to act has no demonstrated protective effect and can harm the alliance. The safety plan does the opposite: it asks for no promise, it provides a sequence of concrete, ranked actions to try as tension rises.
Its steps
The most common framework has six levels, from the most self-directed to the most external:
- Warning signs — thoughts, images, moods, situations that signal a worsening.
- Internal strategies — what the person can do alone to bring tension down (activity, movement, breathing, grounding).
- People and places that take the mind off things — contacts or settings that distract, without necessarily talking about the crisis.
- People to ask for help — named relatives or friends, with their number.
- Professionals and resources — practitioner, helpline, emergency services, with exact contact details.
- Making the environment safe — reducing access to lethal means, often the decisive step.
Each line is filled in with the patient, in their own words, with their real contacts.
What Orekio does with it — and doesn't
In Orekio, the safety plan is a module the practitioner unlocks and fills in with the patient in session. After that, the patient has it on their phone at all times, available offline, without having to search for it.
Orekio does not monitor use of the plan: the app does not know whether it has been opened, triggers no alert, notifies no one. It stores and displays a document the patient and practitioner built together. This is consistent with its status as a digital care journal, outside the scope of medical devices (see About): Orekio makes the plan available; risk assessment and follow-up remain with the practitioner.
In practice
The plan benefits from being revised: after a crisis, after a change in circumstances, or simply at regular intervals. The wheel of emotions and grounding-technique modules are often unlocked alongside it, as a toolkit for step 2. A safety plan does not replace care: it supports it.