If you are not safe right now

People often describe a difference between wanting support soon and needing help right away.

Needing support soon might mean you want to talk to someone within days or weeks about low mood, worry or a difficult situation. That is when a counsellor can be useful as part of ongoing care.

Needing help now means you are in a moment where you could be at risk of harm, or you cannot keep yourself safe. In that situation, a directory is not the right first step. You need immediate human contact from a service set up to respond in a crisis.

Samaritans are available any hour to listen. You can phone 116 123 free from any phone in the UK.

People commonly tell Samaritans they needed someone to hear them without judgement. When you call, a trained volunteer will listen and stay with you while you talk through what is happening right now.

Calling Samaritans does not require an appointment. If you prefer, you can look on the Samaritans website for other ways to contact them, but the phone number 116 123 is the simplest if you need to speak to someone straight away.

NHS 111 is for urgent health advice when you are unsure what to do next. In England there is an option to press 2 for mental health.

People contacting 111 may be put through to a clinician or directed to local crisis services. The service can advise what local urgent options are available and whether you need immediate assessment or a different route of care.

If you are elsewhere in the UK, use the local urgent health number or service for your nation. NHS 111 may also provide contact details for urgent local services if those are needed.

Call 999 if you are in immediate danger or if there is a risk to life. That includes situations where you believe you may harm yourself or where someone else is at immediate risk.

When you call 999 you will speak with the emergency operator. Emergency responders such as the ambulance service or police may be deployed depending on the information you give them.

Use 999 for immediate threats that need urgent intervention. If you are unsure whether a situation is immediately dangerous, use the Samaritans or NHS 111 to discuss it now.

If you are worried someone else might be in immediate danger, call 999 now. Police or ambulance services can respond where risk is immediate.

If the risk seems urgent but not immediate, you can contact Samaritans for guidance about supporting them, or NHS 111 for health-related advice. You might also suggest they contact their GP or local mental health services, if they are able to accept that help.

People supporting others often find it helpful to stay with the person if it is safe to do so, to remove any means of harm if that is possible, and to seek professional help on their behalf. If you are unsure what to do, reach out to an emergency or urgent service and explain the situation.

After immediate danger has passed, you can return here to look for ongoing support. Counselling is a non-emergency form of help that many people use over weeks or months.

You can browse counsellors at /therapists/ when you feel able. Each counsellor listed here is registered with a UK professional body - most with the BACP, others with the NCPS or the HCPC. These are memberships and registers, not licences. The directory lists information supplied by counsellors themselves.

When you contact a counsellor you might ask about practicalities - how they work, their fees, the kinds of issues they work with and whether they offer remote or in-person appointments. A clinician who has been able to talk with you directly is the one who can say what type of support may suit you next.

If you are using a GP, you can speak to them about referral options. If you are still on a waiting list for other services, a counsellor can sometimes work alongside that care. If you have questions about medication, speak with your GP who can advise on medical treatment.