Simple Signposting to Better Health and Wellbeing

Self-care and National Support Services

If you’re worried that someone is at immediate risk of taking their own life then phone 999, you should stay with that person until help arrives. Do not put your own safety at risk by getting physically involved.

 If no immediate risk take the following steps:

Encourage them to ring:

Samaritans - (All age groups)

Tel: 116 123, open 24 hours a day.

Papyrus - (Young people)

Tel: 0800 068 41 41

Text: 07786209697

Email: pat@papyrus-uk.org

Opening hours
Mon-Fri: 10am-10pm, weekends: 2pm-10pm & bank holidays: 2pm-5pm

Other options include:

• contact their GP for an emergency appointment or call the out of hours service
• call their Mental Health worker, if they have one
• call their social worker or key worker, if they have one 
• encourage to re-engage with mental health services if already engaged
• go through their Safety Plan with them.

If they don’t want help, don’t push them. Sometimes it’s easy to want to try and fix a person’s problems, or give them advice but try and at least leave a couple of key telephone numbers with them for Samaritans any local support numbers for their area (Crisis teams etc).

It’s usually better for people to make their own decisions. Help them think of all the options, but leave the choice to them.

A person may not be suicidal but you may still be concerned

Encourage them to contact their GP, they will be familiar with their medical history and will be able to direct them appropriately which may include a referral to the Primary Care IAPT (Improving Access to Psychological Therapies).  IAPT team are skilled in helping people 18 years old and older overcome emotional and mental difficulties like:

• Depression
• Stress
• Anxiety
• Sleep problems
• Confidence and self-esteem problems.

All the local IAPT services are listed under the 'Mental Health' section of MECC Link and can be found within the 'local support and contact details' section. 

 

SELF CARE

• Mind 'The charity for better mental health' has an extensive range of self help resources available

• The NHS have has a range of self-help tools available

• A range of self-help guides can be accessed from the NHS

• A range of self-help techniques is available on Get help now | Lancashire Mind:
  
  • Stress
  • Anxiety 
  • Depression
  • Sleep
  • Self Harm
  • Having a baby.

Local Support Services

Papyrus UK

The work we do centres around three key principles: Support Equip and Influence.
SUPPORT:
We provide confidential support and advice to young people struggling with thoughts of suicide, and anyone worried about a young person through our helpline, HOPELINEUK.
EQUIP:
We engage communities and volunteers in suicide prevention projects and deliver training programmes to individuals and groups. This includes equipping local councils, healthcare professionals and school staff with suicide prevention skills.
INFLUENCE:
We aim to shape national social policy and make a significant contribution to the local and regional implementation of national suicide prevention strategies wherever we can.

Our campaigning comes from our passion as individuals, parents, families and communities who have been touched personally by young suicide. We press for change in many places using hard-hitting and dynamic campaigns as well as presenting evidence to those in power so that lessons can be learned and learning implemented to help save young lives.

Website: https://papyrus-uk.org/what-we-do/

HOPELINEUK
If you are a young person at risk of suicide or are worried about a young person at risk of suicide:
Call: 0800 068 41 41

Text: 0778 620 9697

Email: pat@papyrus-uk.org

Opening Hours
Mon-Fri 10:00 am to 10:00 pm
Weekends 2:00 pm to 10:00 pm
Bank Holidays 2:00 pm to 10:00 pm

Suicide prevention

Suicide is the act of intentionally taking one’s own life. Suicidal feelings can affect any one of us at any time. Many people struggle to talk about these feelings or ask for help as they’re worried about how people will react.

Help for suicidal thoughts
If you feel like you want to die, it’s important to tell someone. Talk to someone you trust and/or contact one of the free helplines below.

Helplines:
Samaritans – for everyone
Call 116 123 – 24/7
Email jo@samaritans.org

Mental Health Helpline – for everyone
Call 0800 915 4640 - Monday to Friday 7pm – 11pm, weekends 12 noon – 12 midnight

Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) – for men
Call 0800 58 58 58 – 5pm to midnight every day
Visit the webchat page: https://www.thecalmzone.net/help/webchat/

Papyrus – for people under 35
Call 0800 068 41 41 – Monday to Friday 10am to 10pm, weekends 2pm to 10pm, bank holidays 2pm to 5pm
Text 07786 209697  Email pat@papyrus-uk.org

Childline – for children and young people under 19
Call 0800 1111 – the number won't show up on your phone bill, 24/7

The Silver Line – for older people
Call 0800 4 70 80 90 – 24/7

If you need immediate help to stay safe, or are supporting someone who needs immediate help:
Call your GP – ask for an emergency appointment
call 111 out of hours – they will help you find the support and help you need
If you have seriously harmed yourself – for example, by taking a drug overdose – call 999 for an ambulance or go straight to A&E.
Or ask someone else to call 999 or take you to A&E.

Suicide Prevention

Find out more information about suicide prevention contacts in Lancashire and South Cumbria by exploring the links on the website below.

Website: https://www.healthierlsc.co.uk/suicide-prevention

• If you have seriously harmed yourself or think you are going to, call 999 or go to your nearest Accident and Emergency department.
  
  

Self-care and National Support Services

Self Care

Although most people need some kind of social contact to maintain good mental health, everyone has different social needs. The person may be someone who is content with a few close friends, or they may need a large group of varied acquaintances to feel satisfied.

Loneliness in Older People

•  is the only free confidential helpline providing information, friendship and advice to older people, open 24 hours a day, every day of the year.  Call 0800 470 8090.  The Silver Line can also put you in contact with community activities in your local area
• Age UK has a befriending service to support loneliness in later life, this is where a volunteer visits an older person once a week in their own home.  There is also telephone befriending Telephone befriending, where a volunteer befriender will phone an older person.
• https://www.reengage.org.uk/ Re-engage works with people aged 75 and over who live alone; those who are especially vulnerable to loneliness.  Call our freephone number 0800 716 543 Email info@reengage.org.uk 
• NHS Choices has a range of advice on Loneliness including volunteering, continuing education and how to engage with social media and computers.

Loneliness in Younger People

• https://www.thesilverline.org.uk/helping-you/ It is recognised that Loneliness is not something that is exclusive to older adult, indeed many younger adults in particular can experience loneliness and a recent report from the office for national statistics highlighted Britain as the loneliness capital of Europe.  

• Whilst on the outside young people can be very well connected on social media but if this replaces face-to-face contact then it can add to a feeling of loneliness.  Some people also present an idealised version of themselves online and we expect to have social lives like those portrayed in the media.

• Helplines can reduce loneliness, at least in the short term

• The Samaritans are available around the clock, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. This number is FREE to call on 116 123

• Get Connected is a free confidential helpline for young people, where people can seek help with emotional and mental health issues often linked to loneliness.

• There are also support services on websites such as Mind's that can remind you you're not alone.

• It doesn’t really matter who you talk to first. Some ideas would include: a friend, family member, anonymous listening service like Nightline or the Samaritans, student union welfare rep, personal tutor, students support services staff member, counsellor, or doctor. Decide who is the best person for you to talk to first. Be realistic about what each person can offer. If it doesn’t work out, try someone else. Talk to more than one person.

Local Support Services

Lancashire County Council

Your health and wellbeing

These pages have help, advice, guidance and support on a range of topics, including loneliness and social isolation. 

Website: https://www.lancashire.gov.uk/health-and-social-care/your-health-and-wellbeing/

 

Social isolation and loneliness fact sheetSocial isolation is when you feel alone (sometimes despite being surrounded by people) and not feeling a part of the wider society. We are social creatures by nature and feeling isolated can often be detrimental to a person’s well-being.
There are many things that can increase feelings of social isolation including bereavement, relationship breakdown, redundancy, retirement, being a lone carer, having a baby, moving home, disability, poor mobility, lack of access to transport, discrimination, fear of new situations, social anxiety or shyness.
Possible signs and symptoms that develop when someone is feeling isolated are reduced confidence, lower self-esteem, depression, anxiety, shortened attention span/ increased forgetfulness, general ill-health or increased risk of substance or alcohol misuse.

Websites:

Cumbria:                                 https://cumbriacvs.org.uk/

Lancashire:                            https://www.lancashire.gov.uk/health-and-social-care/your-health-and-wellbeing/

West Lancashire:                      https://www.wlcvs.org/ 

Burnley, Pendle & Rossendale:  www.bprcvs.co.uk

Lancaster:                               www.lancastercvs.org.uk

Blackburn:                               www.communitycvs.org.uk

Blackpool, Wyre & Fylde:          Home - Volunteer Centre (volunteercentrebwf.org.uk) 

 

Home Start

https://www.home-start.org.uk/

About us

Home-Start is a local community network of trained volunteers and expert support helping families with young children through their challenging times. We are there for parents when they need us the most because childhood can’t wait.

Parents supporting parents
Home-Start works with families in communities right across the UK. Starting in the home, our approach is as individual as the people we’re helping. No judgement, it is just compassionate, confidential help and expert support.
Across all four nations of the United Kingdom, 13,500 home-visiting volunteers support over 27,000 families and 56,000 children to transform their lives.
There are over 200 local, independent Home-Starts working in 71% of local authority areas across the UK.
At the heart of each Home-Start’s work is home visiting volunteer support.
Families struggling with post-natal depression, isolation, physical health problems, bereavement and many other issues receive the support of a volunteer who will spend around two hours a week in a family’s home supporting them in the ways they need.
Home-Starts across the UK also support families in groups, hold day trips and Christmas parties and help access local services, as well as lots of other support.

Find your local Home Start service here:

https://www.home-start.org.uk/find-your-nearest-home-start

 

 

Self-care and National Support Services

National Support Services

The Money Advice Service

Free and impartial money advice, set up by government

• Advice and guides to help improve your finances
• Tools and calculators to help keep track and plan ahead
• Support over the phone and online

Tel: 08001387777

Web: https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/

Typetalk: 18001 0800 915 4622, Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm, Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holidays, closed

Citizens Advice Service

The Citizens Advice Service can help you to make the right choices, including help to deal with your debt problems, how to avoid losing your home and how to get your finances back into shape.  Citizens Advice also offer advice on Benefits and Tax credits as it's important to make sure that you get all the help that you're entitled to

Tel: 03444 111 444

Web: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/

National Debtline

National Debtline has helped millions of people with their debts. They'll talk you through options and give clear advice on how to take back control.

Tel: 0808 808 4000

Web: https://www.nationaldebtline.org/

StepChange Debt Charity

StepChange helps change the lives of thousands of people every week. Their expert advice is impartial and personalised to each individual situation.

Tel: 0800 138 1111

Web: https://www.stepchange.org/

PayPlan

PayPlans supportive, non-judgemental team of advisers help thousands of people beat their debts every year, and treat all of their calls with the strictest confidence.

Tel: 0800 280 2816

Web: www.payplan.com

Debt Advice Foundation

Debt Advice Foundation is a national debt advice and education charity offering free, confidential support and advice to anyone worried about debt.

Tel: 0800 622 61 51

Web: http://www.debtadvicefoundation.org/

Credit Unions

Credit unions offer an alternative to traditional banks and building societies for saving and borrowing. 

They're there to provide a financial community. Credit Unions can help those who can't get access to ordinary bank products; a lifeline in less well-off communities for people grappling with their finances.

Web: https://www.findyourcreditunion.co.uk/

Local Support Services

Finance and Debt Advice

If you are struggling to cope, or feeling overwhelmed, talk to somebody now about how you are feeling. You are important and it's OK to ask for help. The following organisations have some useful information, helplines and debt tools. Some have offices near you.

The Money Advice Service - is an independent service, set up by government to help people make the most of their money, they give free, unbiased money advice to everyone across the UK – online, over the phone and face to face.
Tel: 0800 138 7777

Stepchange Debt Charity - offer tailored advice and practical solutions to help you manage debt and make a fresh start.

www.stepchanging.org.uk/
Tel: 0800 138 1111

National Debt line - offers free, independent and confidential debt advice and debt related mental health advice service run by the charity Money Advice Trust.

www.debtadvisoryhelpline.co.uk/
Tel: 0808 808 4000

Citizens Advice - helping people resolve their legal, money and other problems by providing free, independent and confidential advice in your area.

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/
Tel: 03444 111 444

Civil Legal Advice - Legal advice on a small range of issues, including debt where your home is at risk. You might be able to get free and confidential advice from Civil Legal Advice (CLA) as part of legal aid if you’re in England or Wales.

www.gov.uk/civil-legal-advice
Tel: 0345 345 4 345

Information on claiming benefits, how to challenge benefit decisions and how to access the Welfare Rights Service if you need further help Benefits and financial help - Lancashire County Council