If you’re or someone you know is experiencing an emergency and feel like your life or their life is in danger, call 999 and ask for the police or ambulance service.
Where to get urgent help for mental health from NHS advice
If you or the person is experiencing stress, anxiety or depression which is seriously affecting daily life then it’s important that you or the person speak to your GP. They can help to identify the best ways to get help and support.
The signs that signal someone needs additional support:
- If they have frequent changes to mood or have a persistently low mood
- If they are withdrawing from people (close family, friends, or work colleagues),
- If their symptoms are impacting on daily living, and they are not taking care of themselves like they usually would,
- If they experience ongoing anxiety and/or excessive worry,
- If they feel unable to cope or out of control
- If their emotional and physical symptoms do not resolve over time,
- If they feel unable to return to work, have failed attempts at returning to work or are unable to remain at work
- If they have persistent difficulty in undertaking and completing work tasks and staying focused
- If they are finding it hard to move on and still talk about the stress as if it was still present
- If they persistently avoid any reminders of the distressing event
- If they have thoughts about life not being worth living or they are thinking about harming themselves.
Devon Partnership Trust Helpline
- Call the First Response Service on 0808 196 8708. The service is available 24hrs a day, 7 days week, 365 days a year.
- The Samaritans have launched a new wellbeing support line specifically for Health and Social Care workers and volunteers based in England and Wales. All calls are answered by trained Samaritan volunteers, who provide confidential, non-judgmental support. The support line is open 7.00am to 11.00pm, 7 days a week, and you can call for free on 0800 069 6222.
- This new line is in addition to the Samaritans normal phone line of 116 123, which is free to call and available 24hrs a day, 365 days a year, or their email jo@samaritans.org which has a response time of 24 hours.
- Offers a safe, non-judgmental and non-clinical environment, where information and emotional support from trained professionals is provided if you are in crisis or feel you are heading towards a crisis situation. The service is available to anyone aged 16+ in the Devon area from three locations in Barnstaple, Exeter, and Torquay. Support can be provided face to face or via video chat. The service asks that you contact them first to book to attend. See above link for contact details