5.3 How to Safety Plan

Although no safety plan can ensure that a survivor will not face violence again, the goal of safety planning is to help survivors be as safe as possible given their circumstances.

A good safety plan empowers the survivor to reclaim a sense of safety and security by addressing their immediate safety needs, and it outlines strategies to help reduce the risk of future incidents.

Be prepared to share information about resources available in your community that could support the survivor and to help the survivor to contact them, if needed. See the section, ‘Building Referral Networks’ for more information.

It’s essential that law enforcement’s investigative procedures do not compromise the safety plan of the survivor.

If the survivor involves law enforcement who are present at the health center, work respectfully with them to keep the safety of the survivor their first priority.

As you move through the sections in this module, use your judgement as to which questions are relevant to explore and which are not, given what you know about the survivor’s experiences.

Remember that the survivor may not have or want to share answers to all the questions that you choose to explore.

The following is a list of questions and topic areas you may wish to delve into with the survivor.

Not all topics will apply to every situation, so keep in mind what is relevant. Avoid overwhelming the survivor.

Please note that if you are safety planning with a sexual assault survivor under the age of 18, minors’ access to the resources explored below may be limited. In general, minors do not have the same rights as adults, and, depending on your country, there may be laws that mandate reporting and limit their rights to privacy and consent.

The following information is for survivors of sexual assault by a non-intimate partner, which means there is often a lack of personal information about the perpetrator as well as different legal protection, risks and resources for the survivor.

If this does not apply to the survivor, see the ‘Safety Planning for Intimate Partner Violence’ section.

It’s important to maintain an up-to-date referral list of resources to support survivors, an area we will cover in the ‘Referrals’ section.

If you feel unqualified to discuss these issues or you feel it’s inappropriate for you to do so, refer the survivor to a counsellor in your community who specializes in supporting survivors of sexual assault.