Please note that Victim Care Lancashire is not a crisis or urgent help service.
What is a Mental Health Crisis?
A mental health crisis is when you feel at breaking point and unable to cope with emotions, life circumstances or your own mental health and require immediate professional help. You might be:
Feeling suicidal or self-harming
Feeling extremely anxious and having panic attacks or flashbacks
Experiencing an episode of hypomania/mania or psychosis (hearing voices or feeling very paranoid)
What to do in a mental health crisis?
If you, or the person you are with are at immediate risk, go to your nearest A & E or call 999.
Facing a mental health crisis can feel overwhelming, but support is available. For urgent situations that are not life-threatening, or if you wish to avoid attending A&E, the following options may help:
Contact a healthcare professional
Call 111 and select the mental health option to speak with your local crisis service.
If you’ve been given a crisis line number by a healthcare professional, call it or consult your care plan if you are under the care of a mental health team and use the number provided.
You can also call the NHS Mental Health Crisis Line on 0800 953 0110. This service is available 24/7 and staffed by trained mental health professionals who can offer assessments and referrals. You can call for yourself or on behalf of someone else.
Call the Samaritans
If you want to talk to someone, you can get in touch with the Samaritans by calling freephone 116 123 or at Samaritans.org. They are available 24 hours a day, every day.
Alternatively, if you can’t talk consider texting SHOUT to 85258 they are available to answer your text 24/7, your messages are confidential and anonymous and its free to text shout from all major mobile networks in the UK.
PAPYRUS is dedicated service for young people you can contact their suicide prevention helpline HOPELINE247 on 0800 068 4141, text 88247 or visit their website www.papyrus-uk.org
Speak to your GP
Your GP surgery may be able to offer an emergency appointment. Contact them directly for advice.
Other urgent help services
The Mind Lancashire website has a useful list of urgent help services.
For more general information and guidance on planning for a crisis, visit Mind’s guide to crisis services.