safety-classification

name

safety-classification

description

Use this skill whenever classifying content safety tier, reviewing a module for safety compliance, writing or checking a Safety Note (Section 13), deciding whether clinician review is required, or evaluating whether any practice, prompt, or exercise crosses from Tier 1 into Tier 2. Trigger when: any module contains somatic instructions, shadow work, identity disruption risk, trauma-adjacent content, interpersonal vulnerability, or guided imagery. Also trigger when the Safety Review agent is evaluating a draft, when the Content Authoring agent needs to classify a practice before writing it, or when auditing an existing module's stated Tier.

Safety Classification Protocol

Every piece of content is classified before publication. Classification is not optional and cannot be waived by the author, the session lead, or any agent.

---

Tier 1 — Standard reflective content

Cognitive and journaling-based learning. No significant risk of psychological overwhelm, somatic activation, trauma response, or identity disruption for a reasonably grounded adult learner.

Examples: Reading about a developmental stage; journaling prompts about values; theoretical frameworks; cognitive reframing exercises; perspective-taking thought experiments; reading comprehension and recall practice.

Requirements:

• Safety Note required (brief version — see module-authoring Section 13 template)
• Basic stop rule: "If any material surfaces significant distress, pause and speak with a trusted person"
• Explicit statement that content is educational, not therapeutic
• No clinician review required
• No stage-member review required (recommended but not required for shadow-adjacent content)

---

Tier 2 — Elevated risk content

Content that accesses somatic experience, unconscious or shadow material, identity disruption, or relational vulnerability in ways that meaningfully elevate the risk of overwhelm, dissociation, trauma activation, or destabilisation.

Automatic Tier 2 triggers — any one of these makes the module Tier 2:

Trigger	Examples
Somatic / body-based instruction	Body scans, breath-focused attention, movement, physical grounding, interoceptive awareness
Shadow or unconscious material	Inner critic work, parts/voice dialogue, projection exercises, dream journaling with processing
Identity disruption	Practices that explicitly work with or challenge the learner's sense of self, roles, or core beliefs
Trauma-adjacent content	Any instruction to recall and stay with a specific difficult experience; nervous system regulation content
Relational vulnerability	Vulnerability disclosure practices, needs expression, conflict engagement practices, attachment-pattern exploration
Sustained emotional exposure	Practices requiring the learner to remain with intense emotional content for more than a few minutes
Emotionally charged guided imagery	Visualisations involving significant personal relationships, loss, fear, or past events

If uncertain: Classify as Tier 2. It is safer to over-classify and reduce requirements than to under-classify and publish unprotected Tier 2 content.

Requirements for Tier 2:

• Full Safety Note with all six elements: consent language; screening orientation; specific stop rules; grounding protocol; escalation path; crisis resources
• Facilitator note in Safety Note for group settings
• Licensed clinician review before publication — no exceptions
• Stage-member review for shadow modules — someone at or near the module's centre of gravity

---

Tier 3 — Live facilitation required

Content carrying significant risk of psychological crisis, acute trauma activation, or sustained dissociation. Cannot be published as standalone async content under any circumstances.

Examples: Deep trauma processing; prolonged exposure without clinician containment; sustained regression induction; intensive cathartic practices; practices that deliberately seek to dissolve ego boundaries.

If Tier 3 content is detected: Return immediately with FAIL. "Tier 3 content detected — [describe element]. This cannot be published as async content on this platform. Escalate to platform lead."

---

Classification decision tree

Step 1: Does the content include any somatic or body-based instruction?
  YES → Tier 2. Stop here.
  NO  → Continue.

Step 2: Does the content include shadow work, parts work, or unconscious material surfacing?
  YES → Tier 2. Stop here.
  NO  → Continue.

Step 3: Does the content work with identity, self-concept, or core beliefs?
  YES → Tier 2. Stop here.
  NO  → Continue.

Step 4: Does the content address trauma responses, dissociation, or nervous system regulation?
  YES → Tier 2 or Tier 3 — assess depth. If requiring real-time clinical judgment → Tier 3.
  NO  → Continue.

Step 5: Does the content involve sustained emotional exposure or relational vulnerability practices?
  YES → Tier 2. Stop here.
  NO  → Continue.

Step 6: Does the content include emotionally charged guided imagery?
  YES → Tier 2. Stop here.
  NO  → Tier 1.

---

Prohibited practices — never include, regardless of Tier

These are prohibited on this platform in any form, in any module, at any Tier. No safety language can mitigate them — they must be removed entirely.

1. Physical pain or shock as a coping mechanism: Ice cubes, rubber bands, cold water immersion, skin pinching, or any technique using physical discomfort as a distress interrupt. These reinforce self-harm patterns and are contraindicated in educational contexts.

2. Unregulated cathartic discharge: Instructions to scream, hit pillows, or discharge emotion through physical force as a primary release technique — without trained facilitation and regulatory guidance before and after. Discharge without regulation can increase rather than reduce dysregulation.

3. Forced breath practices without clinical context: Rapid or extended hyperventilation-based approaches (as distinct from simple slow-breath or natural-breath awareness). Slow-breath and natural-breath awareness are not prohibited. The specific contraindicated pattern is breath manipulation designed to produce altered states through hypoxia or CO2 changes.

4. "Push through" language: Any instruction to override a body stop signal, "stay with it regardless," "push past the resistance," or ignore discomfort. Learners must always be empowered to stop.

5. Therapeutic outcome claims: "This module will help you heal," "resolve your anxiety," "process your trauma," "treat depression," or any phrasing that promises clinical outcomes. This platform is educational, not therapeutic.

---

Screening orientation (Tier 2 — place before practice instructions)

These are not gatekeeping questions — they are orientation invitations. Frame them as such.

For somatic practices:

Before beginning, take a moment to check in with yourself. If you're currently in acute stress, physical illness, or significant emotional overwhelm, this may not be the right moment for this practice. It will be here when you're ready. If you feel reasonably settled, you're welcome to continue.

For shadow work:

This module explores aspects of your experience you may not usually pay direct attention to. If you're in a period of significant life disruption, or if you're currently working with a therapist on closely related material, consider doing this practice in that supported context rather than alone.

For interpersonal vulnerability practices:

This practice involves relational vulnerability. If the relationship you're thinking of is in acute crisis, or if there is any safety concern in that relationship, this is not the right context for this practice. Choose a relationship where some degree of safety and trust is already present.

---

Grounding protocol (standard — include or adapt in every Tier 2 Safety Note)

If you notice overwhelm, dissociation, or difficulty staying present:

1. Stop the practice completely.
2. Place both feet flat on the floor and feel the pressure of the floor against your soles.
3. Look around the room slowly and name five things you can see.
4. Take several slow, natural breaths — at whatever pace feels settling to you. Do not force a particular count.
5. When you feel more settled, you may return to the practice or close it here — both are equally fine.
6. If you do not feel more settled after several minutes of grounding, close the practice and reach out to a trusted person or therapist before returning.

Note on breath prescriptions: Do not prescribe specific inhale/exhale ratios (e.g. "4-count inhale, 2-count hold, 6-count exhale") in grounding protocols. Extended and prescribed exhale ratios can be activating for certain anxiety presentations. "Slow, natural breaths at whatever pace feels settling" is safer and more universally appropriate.

---

Crisis resources

Include in every Tier 2 Safety Note. Use region-appropriate resources. Verify currency before publication — crisis line numbers and names change.

US general:

• 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: call or text 988 (also available via chat at 988lifeline.org)
• Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741

US veterans:

• Veterans Crisis Line: call 988, then press 1; or text 838255

International:

• International Association for Suicide Prevention crisis centre directory: https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/

Important: Do not make categorical claims about confidentiality or authority involvement when listing crisis resources. These vary significantly by circumstance, call type, jurisdiction, and caller situation.

---

Pre/Trans vigilance

The Pre/Trans fallacy (Wilber) describes the misreading of pre-rational states as post-rational attainments, and vice versa. This is a structural risk in all developmental content.

In practice — watch for these conflations:

Pre-rational expression	Post-rational expression that resembles it	Distinguishing markers
Magical thinking (Magenta)	Non-dual awareness (Teal+)	Non-dual awareness coexists with rational capacity; magical thinking cannot yet access rational cognition
Somatic aliveness (Red/Magenta)	Embodied contemplative awareness (Teal+)	Contemplative somatic awareness is accompanied by stable witness capacity; Red somatic aliveness is impulse-driven
Tribal belonging (Magenta)	Integral community (Teal+)	Integral community includes and transcends tribal identity; Magenta belonging is pre-individual
Emotional flooding (pre-Orange)	Emotional intelligence (Orange+)	EI involves regulation capacity alongside emotional awareness; flooding is absence of regulation

Any module that works with states, somatic experience, or non-ordinary awareness must include a Pre/Trans note in Section 4.

---

Reference files

• references/safety-note-templates.md — copy-paste templates for Tier 1 and Tier 2 Safety Notes with all required elements pre-structured
• references/ei-safety-addendum.md — EI-20: specific safety protocol for Emotional/Interpersonal line modules, including somatic practice screening questions and interpersonal vulnerability framing