Where to find mental health support

If you are looking for support, or looking on behalf of someone else, it can be hard to know where to start. This page is a short, checked list rather than a long one: every number here is a well-known UK service, and a short list is one you can actually use in the moment you need it.

If it is an emergency

Call 999 if you or someone else is in immediate danger, including from self-harm or suicide.

Samaritans, 116 123, free and available every hour of every day. You do not need to be suicidal to call. If a call is hard, Relay UK reaches the same volunteers on 18001 44 116 123.

Shout, text SHOUT to 85258 for free, confidential, 24-hour text support, if a call is not possible or not what you want.

NHS 111 can direct you to urgent mental health support if you are not sure where else to turn.

For a specific situation

Some situations need a specific service rather than a general one, because the person answering has training for exactly that call.

• Domestic abuse. The National Domestic Abuse Helpline, run in partnership by Refuge and Women's Aid, is free on 0808 2000 247, 24 hours a day.

• Young people. Childline is free on 0800 1111, for anyone under 19, any time, day or night.

• Bereavement. Cruse Bereavement Support is free on 0808 808 1677.

• Eating disorders. Beat is free on 0808 801 0677.

• Alcohol and drug concerns. Frank is free on 0300 123 6600, or text 82111.

Talking to your GP

A GP can refer you for free NHS talking therapy, and is the right first call for anything you are unsure how to categorise. You do not need to already know what is wrong to book that appointment.

Support through InsideOut®

If your employer or your NHS service has given you access, the InsideOut® app puts a first message to Remi®, our AI coach, and a route through to a named clinician in the same place. Get in touch if you are not sure whether you have access, or want to ask before you start.

If you are not in the UK

The numbers above are UK services, and most of them will not answer from abroad. Find A Helpline lists free, confidential services in more than 175 countries and checks each one with the organisation that runs it. Our own crisis page links to it, and also carries the lines we have checked for the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

Why this list is short

It is not a directory of every service that exists, because a directory nobody has checked in years is worse than no list at all: a wrong number at the wrong moment costs more than it saves. If a service you trust is not here, that is not a judgement on it, only a limit on what we have verified.