Safety plan for a self-destructive person
MIELI Mental Health Finland’s Suicide Prevention Centre has created a freely available template for a safety plan and five instructional videos to help draft such a plan. Please familiarise yourself with the videos below before implementing the safety plan. The videos present a customer situation played out by actors about the creation of the safety plan. The videos are created for mental health professionals, but they may be viewed by anyone. You may print out the safety plan for your own use, or for use in your work.
The purpose of the safety plan is to prevent suicide attempts and have an action plan ready for possible self-harm situations. We strongly recommend that you complete the safety plan together with a health professional. Keep the completed plan readily at hand and tell the people mentioned in the safety plan about it.
Safety plan, part 1: Personal warning signs
In this video an employee and a customer identify the personal warning signs related to the customer’s self-destructiveness.
Safety plan, part 2: Personal strategies
In this video the employee and the customer identify what the customer can personally do to avoid ending up in a self-destructive situation.
Safety plan, part 3: Helping hands
In this video the employee and the customer identify who the customer can contact or where they can go to avoid the danger of attempting suicide.
Safety plan, part 4: Safety of the environment
In this video the employee and the customer identify how the safety of the environment can be improved in case of self-harm situations.
Safety plan, part 5: Reasons to live
In this video the employee and the customer identify personal reasons and motives related to the customer’s will to live.
Download the safety plan template for personal use:
Page edited 25.7.2022