Mental health
Good mental health helps us to thrive and enjoy our lives more, and is just as important as our physical health. Find out about the support available.
Mental health can be affected by many different things including financial pressures, isolation, ill-health, addiction, stress, unemployment, domestic violence and the list goes on.
If you feel your mental health is suffering and you are struggling to deal with everyday situations it may be worth talking to your GP, family or friends.
Get urgent advice or support
You can call Samaritans any time day or night for free on 116 123 or go to their website where you can access live online chat.
If you, or someone you care about, need urgent advice or support for your mental health you can call:
- NHS Mental health Central Access Point: 0808 800 3302
This number is open 24 hours a day and is totally free and confidential.
Other Support is Available:
Neighbourhood Mental Health Cafés
Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust offers local mental health support through the Neighbourhood Mental Health Cafés, which are drop-in centres for individuals in need of immediate assistance. No appointment is necessary, and visitors can freely discuss their mental health concerns with our trained and supportive staff.
The supportive, trained staff can listen and provide the practical support you need. There are more than 20 cafes serving local communities across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland including:
- Aylestone Crisis Café - Aylestone Baptist Church, Lutterworth Road, Leicester, LE2 8PE Phone: 07816 350 215 Email: mhm.leicestercrisiscafes@nhs.net
- DeMontfort Student Union Crisis Café - DeMontfort University Students Union, Mill Lane, Leicester, LE2 7DR Phone: 07816 350 215 Email: mhm.leicestercrisiscafes@nhs.net
- The Peepul Crisis Café - Orchardson Avenue, Leicester, LE4 6DP Phone: 0116 261 6000
- Leicester City Crisis Café - St Martin’s House, 7 Peacock Lane, Leicester, LE1 5PZ Email: leicestershire.helpline@turning-point.co.uk
- Leicester University Crisis Café - Percy Gee Building, University Road Leicester, LE1 7RH Phone: 07816 350 215 Email: mhm.leicestercrisiscafes@nhs.net
- West End Crisis Café - 147 Narborough Road, Leicester, LE3 0PD Phone: 07816 350 215 Email: mhm.leicestercrisiscafes@nhs.net
Live Well Leicester can support you to make changes to your lifestyle to support better mental health. Things like increasing physical activity, drinking less, giving up smoking or improving your diet can have a significant impact on mental wellbeing.
P3 provides a mental health wellbeing and recovery support service for adults aged 18 and over. They can offer advice and community recovery services.
If you are experiencing excessive worry, low mood, depression, anxiety or a lack of motivation then VitaMinds can help. VitaMinds works in partnership with the NHS to provide talking therapy services and counselling in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.
Help and advice can also be found at LAMP; MIND; Young Minds and the Health for Teens website.
Samaritans are available 24 hours a day to provide confidential emotional support for people who are experiencing feelings of distress or despair, including those which may lead to suicide. Find your nearest branch on the Samaritans website.
Start a Conversation: suicide is preventable provides information about where to find support in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland for people experiencing feelings of suicide ideation, and those worried about them.
Harmless offers help and support for those affected by self harm and suicide in Leicester.
The Tomorrow Project supports communities to prevent suicide and provide suicide bereavement support.
The Adhar project supports people from BAME communities with their mental health.
The Hub of Hope is an online resource directory that signposts to local support.
Try the Five Ways to Wellbeing
The Five Ways to Wellbeing are daily acts that can benefit our mental health and wellbeing, we can all adapt them to our circumstances, especially for those of us who may be self-isolating.
1. Connect
Having a strong support network can help you through difficult times in life and can combat feelings of loneliness or isolation.
It’s important to keep in touch with family and friends and you can do this through telephoning them or using apps such as Skype where you can see the person that you are talking to and you can add people on the call. This can help you to feel close to them even if you can’t be with them.
If you are working from home – check in with your colleagues regularly to see how they are doing
2. Be Active
Being physically active is an excellent way of developing our mental wellbeing and can be something we can do to boost our mood even when self-isolating.
There are plenty of things that you can do from doing an online workout, the NHS fitness studio has some good ones that ranges from aerobics to yoga and everything in between!
Don’t forget anything that makes you slightly breathless counts so you could clean the house or car or wash windows - it all counts!
Check out Active Leicester on Facebook and Twitter for more exercise at home ideas.
3. Take notice
Taking notice reminds us to look at the small things in life, proven to improve our mental wellbeing.
This may feel like a difficult task if you are isolated, and have been for a long time; but you could try practicing mindfulness – this is where become more aware of what you are feeling and doing at that moment in time and it can give you more of an appreciation for things you have previously taken for granted. You could make a list of things you are thankful for each day, no matter how small.
Be mindful in watching the news – if constant updates are making you feel more anxious, take time away from social media or TV. Turn off notifications if you have to.
You can find out about mindfulness at NHS.UK.
4. Learn
Learning new things throughout our lives, no matter how old we are, is great for improving our self-esteem.
You could do something different learn a new skill or read a new genre of book or become a crossword ace!
There are lots of online resources that can help you – try the Open University website for free online courses.
5. Give
We know that people who volunteer their time in some way are much more likely to rate themselves as happy and feel more connected to their community. Now more than ever, acts of kindness can go a long way, in helping ourselves and others.
If you aren’t self isolating maybe you could help your neighbours or friends who are - helping others can make us feel a bit more in control improve our wellbeing, and that of others.
We are working with Leicestershire Partnership Trust to provide a library of useful resources for you to use to help support your mental health. You can find them here: