Keeping Safe: A Workbook for Developing Safety Plans

To survive, abused women have learned to constantly assess and re-assess their risks as they perceive them, which influences their decision-making relative to staying in or leaving their relationship. Therefore, risk assessments become a focal point of a abused womans survival which is incorporated into her safety planning which is essentially an ongoing process of evaluating the risks and benefits of different options and identifying ways to reduce risks.

It must be noted, however, that risk assessments, safety planning, nor court orders of protection from abuse are guarantees of safety. They are only tools to help an abused woman maneuver through a difficult and dangerous time of her life.