If you or someone else is in immediate danger of suicide or require urgent medical attention, please call 999

If you are thinking about hurting yourself or taking your life right now, it is important to get help immediately

You should:

Don’t try to manage your suicidal thoughts on your own, help and support is available. If you are supporting someone who is having thoughts of suicide, call for help and stay with the person until help arrives. 

Mental health emergency

If your mental or emotional state quickly gets worse, it's important to get help as soon as possible.

If you have a care plan

If you have a care plan, use the names and numbers for you to contact in an emergency. 

If you were, or are being treated for a mental illness, you should have a care plan.

If you don't have a care plan

If you don't have a care plan, or can't find it, you could:

  • Make an emergency appointment with your GP, or the GP out-of-hours service (if the emergency is at night or the weekend).
  • Call your mental health worker, if you have one.
  • Go to the emergency department at your nearest hospital.

The following links may be useful:

Mental health crisis team

All Health and Social Care Trust areas have a mental health crisis team with psychiatric nurses, social workers and support workers. They:

  • carry out mental health assessments;
  • provide support and short-term help until another team is available, or the help is no longer needed.

You can ask your GP or the GP out-of-hours service about the mental health crisis team for your area. 

When to get help from your GP

It's important to seek help from your GP immediately, if you are experiencing the following symptoms for the first time and are not already receiving care from mental health services:

  • Hallucinations
    Hearing or seeing things that are not there (for example, hearing voices). This can also include feeling, smelling or tasting things that are not there.
  • Delusions
    Having strong beliefs that are not shared by others (for example, believing there is a conspiracy against you).

These are symptoms of psychosis and it's important to get treated as soon as possible, as early treatment is more effective.

If you do not require urgent support but are still concerned about your mental health, contacting your GP is a good place to start.

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    Finding help

    If you want to find out what support and services are available across Northern Ireland and in your local area, you can use our service directory. 

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    Lifeline - 0808 808 8000

    Lifeline

    Lifeline operates 24 
hours a day, seven days 
a week. If you’re in distress or despair, you can call Lifeline on 0808 808 8000 and talk to an experienced counsellor.