Understanding the Safety Zone

A Conversation Tool for Therapy

Purpose of this tool

The Safety Zone visual is designed to help young people understand how anxiety can shape the way they think, feel, and respond to the world. The aim is not to remove protective strategies or push change too quickly. Instead, this tool supports young people to:

• understand how protective strategies develop
• recognise how these strategies help them feel safe
• explore how their strengths can be used in more flexible ways
• gradually expand what feels possible as safety grows.

These conversations are intended to be slow, collaborative, and non-judgemental. Safety comes
first.

How to use this resource
This tool includes:
the Safety Zone visual
a clinician instruction sheet with prompts for discussion

Please download both pages and laminate them together so the instructions sit on the reverse side of the visual for easy use in session.

We hope this resource supports meaningful conversations with the young people you work with.
If you find this tool useful, we’d love to hear about your experiences using it in practice.

Download the Safety Zone and start more meaningful, strengths-based conversations in your sessions today.