Risk & crisis support

This page says plainly what therapy can and cannot do in a crisis, and where to turn when something can't wait.

Therapy is not an emergency service

I read messages and emails during working hours, Monday to Friday, and I reply within two working days. Between sessions, and especially at night or over weekends, I cannot respond quickly enough to be relied on in a crisis. That is a limitation of the setting, not a measure of how much your safety matters.

If things feel unmanageable right now

Please use one of these services. They are free, staffed around the clock, and used to hearing exactly what you're carrying. Nothing you say will be too much or too strange.

• Samaritans: call 116 123, any hour, any day
• Shout: text 85258 for free, confidential text support
• NHS 111, option 2: urgent mental health support and Birmingham's crisis teams
• 999 or A&E: if you or someone else is in immediate danger

How risk is handled in our work

If risk comes up in our sessions, we talk about it directly, calmly and without judgement. Where something needs more support than weekly therapy can hold, I will say so, and we will plan together. That can include your GP, Birmingham and Solihull's crisis services, or trusted people around you. You will never simply stop hearing from me.

Confidentiality and safety

What you tell me stays between us, with the narrow exceptions we agree in our first session: where there is a serious and immediate risk to your life or someone else's, I may need to involve other services, and wherever humanly possible I will talk it through with you first.