How Can Women Create a Suicide Safety Plan During Severe Depression?
In crisis right now? Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, 24/7. You can also text HOME to 741741 for the Crisis Text Line. If you’re in immediate danger, call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room.
Quick answer: A suicide safety plan is a short, written plan you create ahead of time to help you stay safe when suicidal thoughts show up. To create one, list your personal warning signs, coping strategies, people and places that distract you, people you can ask for help, professional and crisis contacts, ways to make your space safer, and your reasons for living. Keep it somewhere you can reach in seconds.
If you’ve ever had moments where life felt too heavy to carry, you are not alone, and you are not broken. A suicide safety plan is one of the most practical, loving things you can do for yourself. Think of it as a map you draw on a clear day so you can find your way back on a foggy one.
We work with women every day at LightWork Therapy & Recovery, and we’ve seen how much a simple, personal plan can help. So grab a notebook or your phone, and let’s build yours together.
Key takeaways
- A suicide safety plan is a step-by-step list you follow during a crisis, written in your own words before you need it.
- Research summarized by the National Institute of Mental Health shows safety plans can help reduce the risk of acting on suicidal thoughts.
- Most plans have 7 parts: warning signs, coping strategies, healthy distractions, people to call, professional and crisis contacts, a safer environment, and reasons for living.
- Women’s plans work best when they reflect real life, including hormonal shifts, trauma history, and caregiving stress.
- A safety plan works alongside treatment, not instead of it.
What Is a Suicide Safety Plan?
A suicide safety plan is a personalized, written list of steps to follow when you notice yourself heading toward a crisis. It’s short, specific, and written in your own words, so it feels like you talking to you.
It works because overwhelm makes it hard to think clearly or remember what helps. Your plan does the remembering for you. Instead of figuring everything out in the middle of the storm, you follow the steps you already wrote down.
Having a safety plan doesn’t mean something is wrong with you. It means you care about yourself enough to prepare. Many women create theirs with a therapist and keep updating it for years.
Does a Suicide Safety Plan Actually Work?
Yes. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), creating a safety plan with specific instructions for what to do and how to get help “can help reduce a person’s risk of acting on suicidal thoughts.”
The steps in this guide follow the widely used Stanley-Brown Safety Planning Intervention, a model developed by psychologists Barbara Stanley and Gregory Brown and used by clinicians across the country.
This matters because so many people are hurting. The CDC reports that in 2024, an estimated 14.3 million U.S. adults seriously thought about suicide. If you’re one of them, you deserve tools that work and people who care.
Why Do Women Need a Safety Plan That Fits Their Lives?
Women often carry pain quietly while holding everyone else together, so warning signs can go unnoticed until we’re running on empty. A safety plan built around your real life helps you catch those signs sooner.
A few experiences affect women in unique ways and are worth naming in your plan:
- Hormonal shifts. Menstrual cycles, pregnancy, postpartum, and perimenopause can intensify low mood. Learn more about how hormonal changes affect women’s mental health and PMDD and mental health.
- Postpartum struggles. New moms can face depression, anxiety, and frightening thoughts. Our page on postpartum mental health explains the signs.
- Trauma. Sexual violence, abuse, and other trauma can leave lasting wounds. Trauma therapy for women can help you heal at your own pace.
- The mental load. Caring for kids, aging parents, a job, and a home can lead to mental load and burnout.
- Hidden depression. Many women keep functioning on the outside while struggling inside. Read about high-functioning depression and the warning signs of severe depression in women.
If a certain time of the month, an anniversary, or a family situation tends to bring you down, add it to your plan. That’s not dwelling on the negative. It’s giving yourself a heads-up.
How Do You Create a Suicide Safety Plan? 7 Steps
To create a suicide safety plan, work through these 7 steps in order, moving from things you can do on your own to reaching out for more support. Take your time. There are no wrong answers, only honest ones.
Step 1: Identify Your Warning Signs
Warning signs are the thoughts, feelings, behaviors, or situations that show up right before things get really hard. Maybe you cancel plans, sleep all day, scroll until 3 a.m., or think “everyone would be better off without me.”
Write down three to five personal red flags. Naming them helps you catch the slide early, when it’s easier to turn things around.
Step 2: List Coping Strategies You Can Do Alone
Coping strategies are small things you can do on your own to get through the next hour. They don’t have to fix everything. They just help you ride the wave. Ideas include:
- Stepping outside for a walk or fresh air
- Taking a warm shower or wrapping up in a cozy blanket
- Playing a song that calms or lifts you
- Trying breathwork exercises for instant calm
- Journaling, praying, or meditating
- Watching a comfort show, coloring, baking, or crafting
Choose what actually works for you, not what you think should work.
Step 3: Name People and Places That Offer a Healthy Distraction
Sometimes you just need to not be alone with your thoughts. List a few people you can text or see (you don’t have to tell them what’s going on) and places that ground you, like a coffee shop, library, park, yoga class, or place of worship.
Step 4: Write Down People You Can Ask for Help
List two or three people you trust enough to say, “I’m not okay, and I need you,” with their phone numbers. Having more than one means you have a backup if someone doesn’t pick up.
Reaching out can feel scary. That’s normal. If asking for help is hard for you, our guide on overcoming the fear of asking for mental health help might help. The people who love you would much rather get that call than not.
Step 5: Add Professional and Crisis Contacts
Write down your therapist, psychiatrist, or doctor, plus crisis lines you can reach any time:
- 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org
- Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741
- Emergency services: call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room
Step 6: Make Your Space Safer
Making your space safer means putting distance between you and anything you could use to hurt yourself during a crisis. You might ask someone you trust to hold onto firearms, lock up or safely dispose of extra medications, or keep other items out of easy reach. Crises often pass, and a little time and space can save a life.
If this feels hard to think about, work through it with a therapist or trusted person. You don’t have to do it alone.
Step 7: Write Your Reasons for Living
Your reasons for living are the people, plans, and small joys you’re holding on for. Your kids, your partner, your pets, your best friend, a trip you’ve always wanted to take, the sunrise, your favorite song, the version of you waiting on the other side of this.
Some women add photos, letters, or a few words from someone they love. Make this part feel like a hug.
Suicide Safety Plan Template
Copy this simple template into your phone notes or onto paper and fill in each line in your own words.
| Section | Ask yourself | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1. My warning signs | What thoughts, feelings, or situations tell me I’m starting to struggle? | “I stop answering texts and can’t get out of bed.” |
| 2. Things I can do on my own | What helps me feel even a little calmer? | Walk around the block, breathwork, a hot shower |
| 3. People and places that distract me | Who or where helps me feel less alone? | Text my sister, go to the coffee shop |
| 4. People I can ask for help | Who can I tell, “I’m not okay”? | Two names and phone numbers |
| 5. Professionals and crisis lines | Who can I reach any time of day? | My therapist, 988, text HOME to 741741, 911 |
| 6. Making my space safer | What can I put out of reach, and who can help? | Ask a friend to hold medications |
| 7. My reasons for living | What and who am I holding on for? | My kids, my dog, seeing the ocean again |
Where Should You Keep Your Safety Plan?
Keep your safety plan anywhere you can reach in seconds, like your phone, wallet, or nightstand. A few tips to make it work in real life:
- Save more than one copy. Put it in your phone’s notes, take a photo of it, and keep a paper copy in your bag or nightstand.
- Share it with someone you trust. Let a close friend, partner, or family member know what’s in it so they can help you use it.
- Read it on good days. Familiar steps are easier to follow when things get hard.
- Update it every few months. Refresh it after a move, a new therapist, a breakup, a new baby, or any big change.
If you use your plan and still don’t feel safe, you didn’t fail. It means it’s time for the next level of support, like a crisis line, your therapist, or emergency care. That is the plan working.
How Can You Help Someone You Love Make a Safety Plan?
You can help a woman you love by asking her directly how she’s doing, listening without judgment, and offering to build her plan with her. Thank you for showing up for her.
- Ask directly. The NIMH notes that asking someone about suicidal thoughts does not cause or increase those thoughts. A simple “Are you thinking about suicide?” opens the door.
- Listen without fixing. You don’t need perfect words. Being calm and present says, “You matter to me.”
- Build it together. Sit with her, help her brainstorm each step, and offer to be one of her contacts.
- Care for yourself, too. Supporting someone in pain is heavy. Lean on your own people and resources.
If you believe she’s in immediate danger, stay with her and call 988 or 911 right away.
What If a Safety Plan Isn’t Enough?
A safety plan is a tool for getting through hard moments, but lasting relief usually comes from treatment that addresses what’s underneath. If suicidal thoughts keep coming back, or depression or trauma is making daily life feel impossible, it may be time for more support.
There’s a level of care for wherever you are right now:
- Mental health day treatment: structured therapy during the day while you sleep at home, for women who need more than weekly sessions.
- Intensive outpatient program (IOP): several sessions a week that fit around work, school, or family.
- Outpatient program: ongoing individual and group therapy as you build stability.
- Dual diagnosis day treatment: care for women facing mental health struggles and substance use together.
Therapies like CBT and trauma-informed therapy can help you understand your warning signs and build coping skills that last.
Suicide Safety Plan FAQs
What should be included in a suicide safety plan?
A suicide safety plan should include your warning signs, coping strategies you can do alone, people and places that distract you, people you can ask for help, professional and crisis contacts, steps to make your space safer, and your reasons for living.
Can I make a suicide safety plan on my own?
Yes, you can start a safety plan on your own using the template above. Creating or reviewing it with a therapist can make it stronger, especially the steps about crisis contacts and making your space safer.
How is a safety plan different from a crisis line?
A safety plan is a personal guide you create in advance, while a crisis line like 988 is live, 24/7 support from a trained counselor. A good plan includes crisis lines as one of its steps.
How often should I update my safety plan?
Update your safety plan every few months and after any big life change, such as a move, a new relationship, a pregnancy, or a new care team.
Is having a safety plan a sign that I’m in danger?
No. A safety plan is a form of self-care and preparation, much like keeping a first-aid kit at home. Many women create one during treatment and keep it as part of staying well.
Where can women in Massachusetts get help with suicidal thoughts?
Women in Massachusetts can call or text 988 any time for immediate support. For ongoing care, LightWork Therapy & Recovery offers women-focused day treatment and outpatient programs in Woburn and Braintree.
You Don’t Have to Do This Alone
Creating a suicide safety plan is a brave act of self-love, and you don’t have to build it or carry it by yourself.
At LightWork Therapy & Recovery, we walk alongside women as they rediscover their strength, resilience, and light. Our compassionate team can help you create a safety plan that fits your life and work with you on what’s underneath the pain, so hard days become fewer and further between.
We offer mental health day treatment and outpatient programs designed just for women at two warm, welcoming locations:
- LightWork Woburn: 300 Tradecenter Dr., Ste. 2640, Woburn, MA 01801
- LightWork Braintree: 10 Forbes Rd., #250E, Braintree, MA
Call us at (617) 533-0250, contact our admissions team, or verify your insurance in just a few minutes.
Wherever you are on your journey, there’s a place for you here. Reach out to our team today to talk about your options and take your next step toward healing. Your light is still there, and we’d be honored to help you find it again.
If you are in immediate danger, call or text 988 or call 911.
Keep reading
