Safe-steps-templates
Safe Steps is a clinician-developed, co-produced practice model designed to support mental health staff in responding to consumer distress with consistency, emotional intelligence, and relational integrity. It was created to meet a frontline need for a structured, real-time approach to managing distress in inpatient settings.
The framework is adaptable to the complexities of real-time ward dynamics and supports professional judgement alongside structured de-escalation strategies.
About the Safe Steps framework
Safe Steps provides a structured framework for collaborative deescalation, fostering self-awareness, relational skills, and situational sensitivity to restore safety, empower recovery, and create strengthbased solutions.
The training equips teams with practical strategies for real-world use.
Clear, simple, and effective, it provides a reliable way to:
- Stay calm and support self-regulation in high-stress moments
- Recognise early warning signs and respond with confidence
- Build and protect therapeutic rapport
- Minimise restrictive or reactive measures
- Protect safety and dignity for everyone involved
Impact on restrictive and coercive practice in mental health units
Our single site pilot and multi-site-controlled study confirmed positive impacts on reducing restrictive practices in acute mental health services.
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by a Translational Research Grant from the NSW Health Office of Health and Medical Research, NSW Health, Mid North Coast and Western Sydney Local Health Districts, and Southern Cross University, Faculty of Health. (? include logos, which will require approval).
We acknowledge that seclusion and restraint can mimic past experiences of trauma, oppression, discrimination, racism, and loss. For many, especially Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) people, people from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) backgrounds, and LGBTIQA+ people, these practices can be deeply distressing and cause psychological, spiritual, physical, and emotional injury and harm.
We sincerely acknowledge the lived and living experiences of mental health conditions and those who support them. We acknowledge these ourneys as unique and we were privileged to learn from these experiences in designing the Safe Steps framework and associated training.