Extending Safety Planning Beyond Suicide Prevention: The Clinical Utility of Self-Regulation Planning

Safety planning has demonstrated efficacy in reducing suicide risk. Less is known, however, about the potential adaptability of safety plans as a therapeutic tool for addressing other clinically relevant behaviors beyond suicidality. To reflect this broader applicability, we introduce an adapted Self-Regulation Plan (SRP), which emphasizes guiding in-the-moment skills use across diverse clinical contexts. This manuscript provides an overview of safety planning within suicidal crises, identifies similarities and differences between safety planning and SRPs, and proposes how SRPs may be used to structure and support adaptive responses across an array of clinical presentations. By enhancing the generalizability of these principles, future research can investigate concepts such examining the effectiveness of SRPs and broadening of the term "safety."