Safety Plan Template
A safety plan template walks an individual through the steps to take during a mental health crisis. Created with the client’s emotional and mental health needs in mind, this is designed to be informative on safe practices and easily accessible when needed.
This template is used to:
- Document warning signs and support contacts from previous sessions to create a safety plan that reflects the patient’s full history
- Outline tailored coping strategies and safety guardrails for the patient to follow in the event of a crisis
- Ensure that the safety plan is easily accessible and contains the necessary contact information in case of an emergency
What is a Safety Plan Template?
A safety plan template is a structured document that outlines specific steps a patient can take to help navigate emotional distress or overwhelming thoughts. In the event of a crisis, it’s used collaboratively by both clinician and patient to create a personalized safety plan and reduce safety risks.
Generally, a safety plan template includes the patient’s known triggers, coping strategies, contact information for crisis resources and other guardrails to keep a patient from harm.
In this article, we’ll discuss the importance of using safety plan templates and how mental health professionals can incorporate these templates into their workflow without disrupting their time with patients.
Why a Safety Plan Template for Mental Health Matters
Safety planning looks different for each client on a caseload, as they all require tailored strategies to effectively manage the effects of their diagnosis and potential safety risks. Mental health professionals see multiple patients daily and using a template does the structural work so they don’t have to start from scratch each session.
The process of creating a safety plan requires careful attention to the patient and an in-depth discussion of their thoughts and feelings. That’s why it is crucial for psychiatrists and therapists to document information accurately.
A template prevents the risk of missing any steps in a safety plan. It organizes all data into a comprehensive document that can be easily shared with patients and other relevant healthcare providers for care continuity.
Key Elements of a Safety Plan Template
A safety plan is a personalized document, but incorporates key elements to structure the care plan recommended by mental health professionals.
This means including components such as:
- Warning signs and triggers: Identifies the specific thoughts, moods, behaviors or situations that could indicate a crisis may occur.
- Internal coping strategies: Self-directed techniques that individuals may use to manage stress, emotions and overwhelming thoughts without relying on external assistance.
- Trusted people who can help: Names family members or friends that the patient can ask for direct support during a crisis. It should include their contact information.
- Other crisis resources: Contact details of primary mental health professionals, crisis agencies and hotlines, local urgent care and other resources.
- Making the environment safe: Outlines steps such as removing physical hazards, reducing stress triggers and building emotional support to minimize the risk of a crisis.
The information used to build a safety plan is anchored in the patient’s history, preferences and the rapport they have with the mental health clinician creating the plan. However, documentation during a session takes attention away from the patient and could potentially affect how willing they are to open up about their emotions. This can impact the safety plan itself, as lack of patient participation makes it difficult to personalize the outlined information.
Dr. Shelagh Fraser of Priority Physicians in Indianapolis emphasizes the importance of staying fully engaged with patients. With Heidi, she’s been able to save 6,440 minutes (100 hours) on documentation. This allowed her to focus on communicating with patients and giving them her undivided attention during appointments.
How to Create a Safety Plan Template with Examples
The content of a safety plan template varies from person to person, depending on their different mental health needs. However, creating the plan can follow a set of steps that can guide you during each patient session. Here’s a short guide:
Step 1: Set up your safety plan
Construct the outline for the safety plan by asking the patient what they’ve noticed during past crises and what coping mechanisms have been effective before. For example, the patient no longer finds breathing exercises helpful; this opens a conversation about whether journaling can be more effective. Keep the tone collaborative and work through the different components of the template to cover all bases properly.
Step 2: Talk it through while Heidi transcribes
Log patient responses and observations easily using Heidi’s AI medical scribe. Its speech transcription removes the burden of jotting down or typing out notes during appointments. Clinicians can freely interact with patients without worrying about documentation for the safety plan.
The patient can say, “I noticed that taking long walks after work has improved my environment.” The scribe automatically includes it in the running record without hassle.
Step 3: Review the structured plan and edit
After filling out the fields present in the template, review whether it contains accurate information and relevant solutions for the patient. In Heidi, you can use your voice through Dictate to edit coping mechanisms, harm reduction strategies and contact information accordingly. Add sections to the template as needed to accommodate any additional safety concerns the patient has.
Step 4: Generate the client’s copy
Once the safety plan is completely filled, create a copy for the patient to easily access the document. It’s important to provide a simplified version of the document from the template output. Such resources can be sent directly to the patient for confidentiality.
In Heidi, you can use the text box after your session and prompt it to generate a downloadable PDF for the patient summary. Any detail you may need to omit or add, you can simply ask Heidi to include in the copy.
Step 5: Review and update on the next visit
On the next appointment, assess whether the safety plan was effective and take note of points for improvement. Walk through the different components to determine what worked and what didn’t.
Safety Plan Template Example
You can download a copy of this document, or auto-fill it seamlessly with Heidi, your AI care partner.
Starting a safety plan from scratch can be mentally taxing for both patients and mental health professionals. Using a template that integrates existing notes and documentation allows you to create detailed and holistic safety plans.
Heidi made it easy for you: save one template and reuse for other cases, or create them from scratch to keep mental health care plans unique.
Create Safety Plans Easily with Heidi
Safety planning is a collaborative process and requires comprehensive documentation to ensure patient needs are always addressed. With Heidi, mental health clinicians keep accurate and organized information without sacrificing clinician-patient relationships.
Balancing documentation with presence during safety planning is made easier with Heidi:
- Transcribe: Heidi creates a full transcript of the patient session that can be easily modified to include additional details.
- Dictate: Heidi’s AI-powered voice-to-text tool lets you revise summaries or clinical notes easily.
- Auto-fill forms: Reuse existing documentation and patient data to automatically complete the fields of a template straight from your notes.
Powering over 2.8 million patient sessions weekly, Heidi is your AI care partner for the day-to-day workflow, ensuring compliance with patient safety regulations (HIPAA, GDPR, PIPEDA, APP) across the globe.
Free Safety Plan Templates
Risk Assessment and Safety Planning Note
A risk assessment and safety planning note template takes into account previous and current risk behaviors to create an effective safety plan for patients. It’s a comprehensive document that ensures complete record-keeping to support escalation of care when needed.
FAQs About Safety Plan Templates
You can find free safety plan templates provided by agencies and organizations that offer mental health support. However, you can also modify an existing one from Heidi’s Template Community to give you more flexibility in adapting to your patient’s needs. For more information, check our guide on creating templates.