What it is
A list of what helps, in the student's own words, for the moments when things get hard.
Warning signs so they know when to open it. Things that work at three levels of intensity. People who would pick up. Numbers that are always answered. Reasons to stay.
Every student who screens High Risk completes one the same day, before they go home. See Module 5.2.
What it is not
It is not designed to eliminate suicidal thoughts. The goal is to help a young person get through a moment of distress, not to prevent every future thought.
It is not a contract. Nobody is promising anything. A student who uses none of it has not failed.
It is not a substitute for care. It sits alongside referral, follow-up and the means conversation, not instead of them.
It is not the tool for a crisis in progress.
Safety planning is what you do with a student who is at risk and going home. It is not what you do while a crisis is in progress. If this becomes an acute crisis, stop and go to Module 5.6.
What the evidence says, honestly
A 2025 meta-analysis of safety planning with children and adolescents found no statistically significant effect on ideation, attempts or return presentations, across the five studies that met inclusion criteria.
That is a reason to do it well, not a reason to stop. The studies varied enormously in how safety planning was actually delivered, and a form filled in quickly to satisfy a protocol is not the same intervention as thirty minutes spent taking a young person seriously.
What the same review points at as the parts that carry the weight:
- Involve the caregiver
- Restrict access to means
- Follow up on a schedule
All three are in this Unit. Two of them happen after the student leaves the room.
Getting safely through an intense moment counts. That is the whole claim, and it is enough.
