Mental Health Support & Resources
Clear, plain-English guidance, trusted NHS pathways, and direct links to support — nationally, locally across North Wales and Shropshire, and online.
You do not need a diagnosis to seek help. You do not need to be in crisis to deserve support.
🚨 Need urgent help right now?
Getting Support
NHS pathways, waiting lists, private therapy, digital support
Local Services
North Wales, Shropshire, national organisations
Specific Experiences
Veterans, men, LGBTQIA+, carers, perinatal, and more
All Conditions
Depression, anxiety, PTSD, eating disorders and more
What is mental health?
Mental health covers our emotional, psychological and social wellbeing. It affects how we think, feel and act, and how we handle stress, make decisions and relate to others. Like physical health, it exists on a spectrum — it is not simply the absence of illness. You can have poor mental health without a diagnosis, and you can have a diagnosis and still thrive.
Mental health affects everyone
- Around 1 in 4 people in England experience a mental health problem in any given year, and about 1 in 6 report a common mental health problem in any given week (Mind, drawing on the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey)
- Roughly three quarters of lifetime mental health conditions are established by the mid-twenties
- Mental health difficulties are among the leading causes of disability worldwide
- Most people with mental health problems are never violent. The opposite association is a harmful and persistent myth
You deserve support if…
- You are struggling, even without a diagnosis
- You have a diagnosis and need more, or different, support
- You are supporting someone else
- Things feel hard to explain or name
- You have been dismissed or disbelieved before
- You are a professional wanting better understanding
Where would you like to start?
No judgement. No pressure. No assumptions. Choose whichever best reflects where you are right now.
North Wales & Shropshire — which system applies
If you live near the border, the route in depends on where your GP is registered, not where you live. The two systems do not overlap.
Wales — Betsi Cadwaladr
- C.A.L.L. Helpline — 0800 132 737, free, 24/7, 365 days. Welsh on request. Text ‘help’ to 81066
- NHS 111 Wales, option 2 — 24/7 mental health option, any age
- Referral to local primary care mental health support services is normally via your GP
- NHS Talking Therapies is England-only — you cannot self-refer to it from a Welsh GP practice
- Meic — free helpline for under-25s in Wales: 0808 80 23456, daily 8am–midnight
- DAN 24/7 — bilingual drug and alcohol helpline: 0808 808 2234
England — Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin
- Urgent NHS mental health helpline — 0808 196 4501, freephone, 24/7, any age. Text STW to 85258
- NHS 111 — select the mental health option
- Talking Therapies self-referral for 16+ with a local GP. Shropshire: 0300 123 6020. Telford & Wrekin: 01952 457 415
- CAMHS Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin — 0300 124 0093
Conditions & experiences
Trusted NHS information and specialist support for each. Helpline hours change — check the organisation’s own site before relying on them.
Depression and low mood
Persistent sadness, hopelessness, loss of interest, and changes in sleep, appetite and energy. Ranges from mild to severe. Very common, and treatable.
Anxiety and panic
Persistent, excessive worry — including generalised anxiety, panic disorder, social anxiety, health anxiety and phobias. Physical symptoms include racing heart, breathlessness and dizziness.
OCD — obsessive-compulsive disorder
Intrusive, unwanted thoughts and repetitive behaviours or mental acts. Serious and debilitating — not a quirk about tidiness. Highly treatable with the right therapy (ERP).
PTSD and complex PTSD
Flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety after trauma. C-PTSD develops after prolonged trauma — including domestic abuse and childhood neglect — and involves difficulties with emotion regulation, relationships and sense of self.
Bipolar and mood disorders
Extreme mood swings including mania or hypomania and depressive lows. Frequently misdiagnosed, particularly in women and neurodivergent people. Accurate diagnosis leads to appropriate treatment.
Psychosis and schizophrenia
Hallucinations, delusions and disorganised thinking. Early intervention significantly improves long-term outcomes. Both are treatable with the right support.
Eating disorders
A group of serious conditions including anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, ARFID and OSFED. They carry the highest mortality of any mental health condition, and early treatment matters. You do not have to be underweight, or in crisis, to deserve help.
Self-harm
Hurting yourself to cope with overwhelming emotional pain. It is not attention-seeking — it is a sign someone is struggling and needs support. Often occurs alongside depression, anxiety, trauma or eating difficulties.
Suicidal thoughts and feelings
Feeling that you want to end your life, or that others would be better off without you. These thoughts are more common than most people realise, and having them does not mean you will act on them. Please tell someone.
ADHD and mental health
ADHD raises the risk of anxiety, depression and emotional dysregulation. Many adults are diagnosed late, particularly women. Treating the anxiety without recognising the ADHD underneath rarely works.
Autism and mental health
Autistic people experience much higher rates of anxiety and depression — often as a consequence of masking and years of living in environments not designed for them, rather than of autism itself.
Perinatal mental health
Mental health during pregnancy and the first year after birth. Affects around 1 in 5 women, and fathers and partners too. Includes antenatal and postnatal depression, anxiety, birth trauma, and postpartum psychosis.
Personality disorders
Enduring patterns of experiencing the world that cause significant distress, including EUPD (often called BPD). Frequently misdiagnosed — and overdiagnosed in women who may in fact be autistic, have ADHD, or be living with C-PTSD from prolonged abuse.
Bereavement and grief
Grief is a natural response to loss — of a person, a relationship, a way of life, or a future you expected. There is no right way and no timeline. Traumatic bereavement and grief after suicide need specialist support.
Addiction and substance use
Alcohol, drugs, gambling and other addictive behaviours. Frequently co-exists with trauma, depression or anxiety, and a trauma-informed approach makes a real difference. Recovery is possible.
Dissociation and dissociative disorders
Disconnection from thoughts, feelings, identity or surroundings. Ranges from brief episodes to complex presentations including DID. Strongly linked to childhood trauma and prolonged abuse, and often poorly understood by services.
LGBTQIA+ mental health
LGBTQIA+ people face higher rates of mental health difficulties because of minority stress, stigma and discrimination — not because of their identity. Affirming services exist and make a measurable difference.
From NAAVoices — Not Broken
Not Broken: Finding the Stars
Written by Amy Royle — registered nurse, neurodiversity advocate and founder of NAAVoices.com — a personal account documenting institutional failures following a domestic abuse disclosure, and the journey from survival to voice.
For anyone who has felt dismissed, disbelieved or made invisible by the systems that were supposed to protect them.
Related NAAVoices hubs
Mental health, domestic abuse and neurodiversity are closely connected. These hubs cover the intersections in depth.
Domestic Abuse Hub
PTSD, C-PTSD, coercive control and the mental health impact of abuse. Legal rights, safety planning, helplines and recovery.
DA Hub → Helplines →Neurodiversity Hub
ADHD, autism, masking, burnout and the neurodiversity–mental health link. Assessment pathways, IDP and EHCP guidance, self-screening.
ND Hub → For professionals →LGBTQIA+ Hub
Minority stress, coming out, affirming therapy, gender incongruence, rights and law, and local organisations.
LGBTQIA+ Hub → MH page →
