A new toolkit to support personalised safety planning for adults at risk of self-harm or suicide will be launched through a series of events this spring.

‘Jay’s Personalised Safety Planning Toolkit’ has been designed to support the embedding of a more personalised approach to safety planning within health and care settings, offering a guide to support meaningful safety planning for self-harm and suicide. It can be used by individuals themselves, their families, friends, and wider support networks, including healthcare professionals.

The toolkit is named after, and dedicated to, Jaymie Mart (Jay), who lost her life to suicide, aged 32. Jay’s mum, Paula, has influenced and guided the development of the toolkit from the outset.

This work, supported by the NIHR Greater Manchester PSRC, is based on research evidence and was co-designed with people who have lived experience, alongside health professionals. It has been developed to support good-quality, personalised safety planning in practice. It follows national guidance, including recommendations from NICE and the NHS. 

Read more about the development of the toolkit.

Events will be held in Carlisle, Newcastle, Teesside, Sunderland and West Cumbria. You can book your place at one of the roadshows here. 

The roadshows will introduce the toolkit, explore how it can be used in practice, and provide space for discussion.

The sessions are open to anyone with an interest in safety planning, including practitioners from across health and social care, as well as individuals who may use safety planning themselves, along with family, friends and other support people.

If you’re unable to attend one of the roadshow events, an online event is also planned for Wednesday 13 May. If you’d like to attend the online launch, please book your place here.

Acknowledgements

The toolkit has been developed as part of ‘Jay’s Study’ – a project funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Research for Patient Benefit Programme (Award no: NIHR 206329). The project aimed to refine and develop a personalised self-harm and suicide safety planning toolkit, with theoretically underpinned tailored implementation guidance.

There will be further ongoing research to test feasibility, acceptability, and the impact on patient safety outcomes. This work has also been supported by the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) North East and North Cumbria, NIHR Greater Manchester Patient Safety Research Collaboration and Teesside University.

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