Safety Plan

How to Stay Safe

What is safety planning?

Safety planning is thinking through ways to ensure your safety. This can include simple yet very important details such as the changing the route you take to work, leaving a spare key at a neighbor’s place, or what you can do if you sense your partner is about to have an explosive episode. Safety planning can help you stay safe whether you’re still in the relationship or if you choose to leave.

Click the links below for safety planning guidelines:

Adult Safety Plan

Youth Safety Plan

General Safety Planning Tips
  • Be aware of all possible escape routes (i.e. doors, first-floor windows, basement exits, elevators, stairwells). Rehearse if possible.
  • Choose a safe place to go in an emergency, such as a friend or relative’s home (preferably a location your partner doesn’t know about).
  • Pack a survival kit and consider including:
    • Money for cab/bus fare
    • Change of clothes
    • Extra house and car keys
    • Birth certificates
    • Passports
    • Medications and copies of prescriptions
    • Insurance information
    • Checkbook and debit/credit cards
    • Legal documents such as separation agreements and protection orders, and jointly owned asset documents.
    • Valuables
  • Conceal the kit in the home or leave it with a trusted neighbor, friend, or relative. Important papers can also be left in a bank deposit box.
  • Try to start an individual savings account.
  • Consider enrolling in California’s Safe at Home program to help protect your privacy. Contact SAVE for info.
  • During an argument, try to avoid spaces with sharp objects (i.e. razors, knives, gardening tools), such as the kitchen, bathroom, garage, or small spaces without access to an outside door.
  • Memorize important phone numbers, such as SAVE’s 24 Hour Crisis Line number, the local police department number, and friends’ numbers.
  • Review and update the safety plan as needed.