Urgent help and support for mental health

You may be experiencing a mental health crisis or emergency if your mental or emotional state declines quite quickly. This can be a worrying experience, especially if you haven't felt like this before. You may feel like you are unable to cope or that you do not feel in control of how you feel. This could include having thoughts of self-harm, suicide, or experiencing extreme distress or hallucinations.

You could be in crisis if you:

• Are thinking about harming yourself and that you may act on these thoughts
• Are thinking about suicide and feel you may act on these thoughts
• Are feeling extremely overwhelmed or experiencing extreme distress
• Are hearing voices or experiencing hallucinations
• Are thinking about harming another person
• Are experiencing extreme distress due to a current or past event

If you are experiencing a mental health crisis, it is important to get help as quickly as possible by contacting services who can provide an assessment, and help you access appropriate support.

If you are already accessing mental health services

If you are already accessing support from mental health services, we would recommend contacting your key worker such as your Community Practice Nurse if possible.

If you have a safety plan in place, this will help you to identify what you need to do, including contact information for support and strategies you could use to help you manage the feelings you are having.

If you are in immediate danger of harming yourself or another person, contact 999 or NHS 111 and select the mental health option for crisis support.

You could also contact someone you trust to ask them to come and see you, or go to a safe place such as a friends or family members house where you know you will be supported. Ask them to contact emergency services or the crisis team on your behalf if you need to.

If you are not already accessing mental health services

You can phone your GP and ask for an emergency appointment, telling the staff member who answers your call that you are experiencing a mental health crisis.

If you are in immediate danger of harming yourself or another person, contact 999 or or NHS 111 and select the mental health option for crisis support.

You could also contact someone you trust to ask them to come and see you, or go to a safe place such as a friends or family members house where you know you will be supported. Ask them to contact emergency services or the crisis team on your behalf if you need to.

If you aware that someone else is in crisis and is in immediate danger such as they have told you they intend to harm themselves, or there is a medical emergency such as they have taken an overdose, it is important to contact 999.

If the person is in a place of safety with you or someone else they trust, you should encourage them to contact NHS 111 and select the mental health option for crisis support.

When on the phone it is important to provide the location of the person you are concerned about along with their contact information if you have it.

You can also ask the person you are concerned about whether they have a safety plan, and encourage them to follow the information on the plan.

We have a team of specialist mental health advisers and practitioners based in the Student Life Building who can help you if you feel you are experiencing a mental health crisis.

You can come to the Student Life Building and talk to a member of staff at the information desk. They will take you to a quiet space and contact a member of the specialist team to come and talk to you. If you feel unable to come to the Student Life Building, ask a member of staff nearby if they can help you or call the information desk 01642 342277 or security 01642 342086.

When you are seen by an adviser, a full assessment will take place. This will include talking about:

• How you are currently feeling
• What your current needs are
• What may have happened/is happening for you at the moment
• What challenges you might be experiencing
• What support you may already be accessing
• How we can help you and what support is available to you

We will work with you to help minimise any risk of harm to yourself or to other people and support you to access any service which can help. We may also create a safety plan with you if needed.

The time taken to complete an assessment depends on the individual and their situation.

We will always ensure you are able to access any immediate support if needed from other services such as the NHS crisis team. You can find more information about this service here: https://www.tewv.nhs.uk/services/crisis-and-intensive-home-treatment-team/

What happens next?

We may refer you/signpost you to internal and/or external services following the initial assessment.

You may be offered a follow up appointment in person or over the phone to check to see how you are feeling after the initial assessment and to see if you have managed to access any services we have referred you to.

You may be offered ongoing appointments with a mental health adviser/practitioner to make any referrals to specialist services such as counselling, create a safety plan, or develop strategies to help manage your mental health.

We will always work with you to decide together on the most appropriate support.

If you or someone else are experiencing a mental health crisis outside of office hours, contact 999 or NHS 111 and select the mental health option for crisis support.

Try to go to a place of safety where possible and tell someone you trust how you are feeling, such as a friend or family member.

If you are in student accommodation, we would encourage you to contact your warden. If you are on campus, you can visit the security team (ground floor of the Library) who will also be able to help you.

If you are not in crisis but need to talk to someone, you can find contact information and other resources here.

If you are not in crisis but would like to talk to someone about how you are feeling, you can use the following support services

Samaritans

Telephone: 116 123 (free - 24hrs) Email: jo@samaritans.org

Student Space

Telephone: 0808 189 5260 (3pm-12am each day free)
Text: Text 'student' to 85258
Email: students@themix.org.uk (aim to respond within 24 hours)
Webchat: Visit https://studentspace.org.uk/support-services/webchat-support (4pm-11pm each day)

Please visit the following link for information about support when feeling low or anxious.

If you would like support from the university you can email studentlife@tees.ac.uk to request a Student Support Initial Assessment, to explore what support is available to you. For more information, please visit our mental health page

Our service is confidential which means that any information you provide us can only be seen by appropriate members of staff involved in helping you to access support.

We will treat all information you provide sensitively. We may need to share information about you with others, within the University and sometimes outside. We will only share information about you with your consent. But, there are some exceptions where we have a duty of care to share information without your consent:

• If we are advised that we should share information by a medical professional;
• If you are considered as being at risk of harm or a risk to others;
• If there is a concern regarding safeguarding of children or vulnerable adults;
• If there is a legal requirement, for example at a court hearing

Under the General Data Protection Regulations we are obliged to tell you how we collect and use your personal data. Please note that enquiries and appointments with our services are tracked electronically and the personal data of your enquiry is stored in protected files. We keep this data so that we can keep track of your enquiry and our response for future reference. This personal information will be retained for 7 years after which it will be destroyed securely.

For more information, please refer to the university's General Privacy Notice for students

If you would like to provide any service feedback or make a complaint about the service you have received, in the first instance please contact studentlife@tees.ac.uk

If you would like to make a formal complaint, please refer to the information on our complaints page