How can I get urgent help for my mental health?

This page is here to help you if your mental health is really bad — and you need help fast. You are not alone, and there are services that are ready to listen and support you.

If you are 18 or older and live in England, this is for you.  

You might need urgent help for your mental health for different reasons.  It’s ok to ask for help - everyone needs help sometimes.

You could be experiencing thoughts of suicide or self-harm, or be experiencing mania or psychosis. Psychosis can include hearing or seeing things that are not real. 

You may have seriously harmed yourself or feel like others are at risk. 

It’s super important to get help quickly. There are different ways you can get support, and kind people are ready to help you feel safe and cared for.

There are these different options for urgent help and support:

• Contact your local NHS mental health team, if you are already being treated by them. You should have a care plan, that says who to contact if you need urgent help.
• Contact NHS 111 for urgent mental health support. You can call NHS 111 or visit their website.  You will need to answer some questions. They will refer you to an appropriate service or tell you what to do next.
• Ask your GP for an emergency appointment. They can make a referral to the local NHS crisis team if necessary.
• Go to the accident and emergency (A&E) department at your local hospital
• Call 999
• Emotional support lines, like the Samaritans - see ‘I want to talk to someone’ below for more options.
• Use local crisis services, like crisis cafés or drop-in centres. See here for more information. 

 Also, it might help to read our advice and information on:

• Self-harm, and
• Suicidal thoughts - How to cope.
  
  

What about if I live in Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland?

If you live in the following countries, you can call the Samaritans or contact these organisations:  

• Scotland: call NHS 111, Breathing space, or Change Mental Health
• Wales: call NHS 111  or Adferiad
• Northern Ireland: Lifeline    

I need help for someone else

You might know someone who’s 18 or older, lives in England, and is having a really tough time with their mental health.

They might feel very upset, confused, or scared, and need help quickly to feel safe again.   We know that this might be a distressing time for you too.

You can:

• Offer to help them get professional support
• Listen to how they are feeling, in a non-judgmental, empathetic way
• Help them to stay safe, by saying with them, and removing items that they can harm themselves with
• Ask them how you can help
• Try to get help for them yourself, if they are very unwell well but do not want support

There are ways to get urgent support, and services are ready to help them through it.

You can read our advice and information on Getting help for someone in a mental health crisis.

Also, you might find our following advice and information useful:

• Suicidal thoughts - How to support someone
• Responding to unusual behaviour linked to mental illness
• Supporting someone with a mental illness
• Worried about someone's mental health?

Did this help?

We would love to know if this information helped you or if you found any issues with this page. You can email us at feedback@rethink.org 

© Rethink Mental Illness 2025

Last updated September 2025
Next update May 2028, subject to any changes

Version number 1.1