Safety Planning (Safety Plan)

Coping Strategies and Escape Protocols

The Safety Plan is a personalized, dynamic and vital tool that transcends the mere advice to "call the police".

It is a survival strategy designed to reduce the risk of lethal harm both while the victim is cohabitating with the offender and during the separation process.

While cohabitation persists, the plan should identify "safe zones" within the home: rooms that have access to the outside (windows, doors) and that are free of potentially lethal objects (avoiding kitchens because of knives or bathrooms because of hard surfaces and lack of exits).

It is essential to establish encrypted alert codes with the support network (neighbors, children or relatives), such as a code word or a specific emoji in messaging, which unequivocally means "call the police now" without alerting the aggressor. Logistical preparation is crucial for escape.

The victim should be instructed to gradually prepare the "Go Bag".

This bag should be hidden outside the home (at work, at a trusted friend's house) to avoid discovery.

It should contain copies of essential documents (ID, passports, children's birth certificates), sets of car and house keys, vital medication and, crucially, cash, as perpetrators often block shared bank accounts or credit cards immediately after the escape to force a return by economic suffocation.

Escape should never be improvised if it can be avoided; a planned exit during a "window of opportunity" (when the attacker is at work or away) exponentially increases the likelihood of success and reduces the risk of lethal physical confrontation.

Cybersecurity and Digital Hygiene

In the modern era, physically fleeing is insufficient if digital doors that enable tracking are left open.

Today's aggressors use technology to engage in "cyberstalking" or digital stalking that extends coercive control beyond the walls of the home.

Before leaving the home, and preferably from a secure, "clean" device (such as a library computer or unregistered prepaid phone), the victim should change all account passwords.

This is not limited to social networks, but should cover email, online banking and, crucially, cloud services (iCloud, Google Drive) that sync photos and locations automatically.

It is imperative to perform a sweep of electronic devices for stalkerware or spy apps that the attacker may have installed to listen in on ambient conversations, read messages or view real-time location via GPS.

Abusers often give phones or tablets to children with these features enabled to use as tracking beacons.

Digital hygiene involves disabling geolocation on all apps, checking devices connected to the vehicle (hidden AirTags trackers) and, in extreme risk situations, leaving the usual mobile device at home when fl