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. A waitlist place is not support, and I would never want you treating it as one. 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 Greater Manchester's crisis teams
- 999 or A&E: if you or someone else is in immediate danger
If Spanish is easier for you in a hard moment, Samaritans will stay on the line while an interpreter joins where one is available, and you are always welcome to email me in Spanish for non-urgent support between sessions.
How risk is handled in our work
If risk comes up in our sessions, we talk about it directly, calmly and without judgement, in whichever language it arrives in. Where something needs more support than weekly therapy can hold, I will say so, and we will plan together. That can include your GP, Greater Manchester'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.