Sense of safety

‘Sense of safety’ is an ordinary phrase, part of Humpty’s native tongue, that naturally integrates the physicality of the senses with integrative, whole person sense-making. Sense of safety aligns with those who remind that ‘plain old caring [has] sustained the human species for millennia’. Participants who gave feedback on the concept of sense of safety spontaneously compared sense of safety to the biopsychosocial approach. Sense of safety involves both ‘comfort’ and ‘courage’. It involves movement towards engagement and connection rather than escape and disconnection. Stakeholders, backed up by transdisciplinary research, confirmed the whole person integrative experience of sensing threat and safety. Sense of safety also offers a shared language focused on dynamic processes of growth towards sense of safety. Sense of safety is clearly linked to growth, to dynamic responses to life in all its richness, to awareness of strengths and resources, to new priorities, skills and goals.