Your mental wellbeing

Get urgent help

If you or someone you know are experiencing an emotional crisis, or have urgent concerns about a mental health problem or need immediate help, you can:

• Call the Samaritans on 116 123 – for 24/7 telephone support
• Call 111 and select the mental health option – this is how to access the NHS urgent mental health triage helpline 24/7 for all ages. Or see 111 online
• Text “SHOUT” to 85258 – for 24/7 crisis text support
• In a life-threatening emergency call 999 or visit A&E

Help with mental health

Everyone reacts differently to stressful situations. Pressure, fear, and anxiety can be overwhelming. If this is something you experience, please speak to a trusted colleague, your line manager or your HR colleagues.

It is sometimes easy to think of health just in terms of physical health - looking after our diet, exercise and so on. However, mental health is just as important and there are things that we can all do to maintain our wellbeing.

It can feel strange to prioritise self-care and wellbeing, especially when we are living busy and stressful lives. Taking some time to think about caring for yourself in this way can help you to cope with difficult times and can prevent more significant mental health problems later.

There are five steps that you can take to improve your mental health and wellbeing:

1. Connect with other people
2. Be physically active
3. Learn new things
4. Give to others
5. Pay attention to the present moment (mindfulness)

You can find more about these at NHS - 5 steps to mental wellbeing.

Lighthouse

Text “LIGHTHOUSE” and your postcode to 07451 276 010 between 4.30pm-11:30pm (for example LIGHTHOUSE SO14 0YG) for urgent mental health support in eligible locations. Lighthouse should then contact you back as soon as possible. Please note this is only open to those over 18 years of age and living in Southampton.

Find out more about Lighthouse.

Mindfulness

There is lots of information available regarding mindfulness on the internet and on techniques to help with grounding ourselves in times of stress. What is mindfulness?

It is also important to remember that feeling sad, anxious or stressed is a very normal part of being human (none of us are happy and content all the time). There is lots of help out there if you are struggling.

Sometimes we need extra help with our mental health, and this is nothing to feel ashamed about. Reaching out early for support can mean that we stop things escalating and you do not need to struggle alone. This can be difficult for people but there are services available to help in a confidential and non-judgemental way.

See information about support available in Southampton. The support available to you includes:

Other helplines and support

There are many other ways you can get help with your mental wellbeing:

Local services

Want to find out more?

Access our range of mental health and wellbeing resources.