What Does Personalized Safety Planning Really Mean?

supporting survivors’ choices

As a domestic violence resource center, Caring Unlimited provides free, safe, and confidential support to anyone experiencing domestic abuse and violence.   

Our mission statement says we do this in a way that supports the people’s right of self-determination, and at the center of our services is personalized, or individualized, safety planning.  But what does personalized safety planning really mean, and why is it so important? 

Through our work with survivors, we know that each situation is unique.  There are many tactics a person abusing their partner may use to assert and maintain power and control in the relationship, and there are many different barriers someone experiencing abuse might face to increasing their safety, or separating themselves from the person causing them harm. 

Personalized safety planning means we listen non-judgmentally, help people understand and explore their options, and support them in making their own decisions.  There is no one way forward, and it’s important that survivors can access a network of support aimed at increasing their overall safety.  That’s exactly what is available at Caring Unlimited.   

Survivors have been denied autonomy and the ability to make choices freely for themselves.  Their choices have been limited and dictated by the person causing them harm.   

Survivors deserve the opportunity to choose their own way.  They deserve to live lives free from abuse and violence, and without fear.  Caring Unlimited provides support, information, and resources to help survivors make their choices freely, and to help remove the barriers they face to achieving their goals. 

When survivors choose their own paths forward, they are able to create the life they imagine.  They are able to achieve economic independence.  And they are able to heal from the abuse they experienced.