You may find this resource helpful if you're:
This means going to a hospital, clinic, or another service to get treatment and support for your mental health.
If you’re admitted to hospital, you might go in as:
These are NHS services that support adults with mental health problems.
An advocate is someone who can listen to you and help make sure your voice is heard in decisions about you.
In some situations, you will have a right to have an advocate. This is called statutory advocacy.
Even if you don’t have a right to an advocate, there are other types of advocacy that can support you to get your voice heard.
See our page on advocacy for more information.
This is a specially trained social worker or nurse. They're responsible for arranging Mental Health Act Assessments. They’re also responsible for admitting you to hospital if you’re sectioned.
This a support package provided by the NHS for people in Wales who have a mental health problem.
This is your main point of contact if you’re having ongoing treatment and support for your mental health. They should keep in close contact with you and answer any questions you may have.
This when a court gives a local authority (local government) the power to make decisions about a child (someone who is under the age of 18).
The local authority will normally make decisions with parents or carers. But if they’re worried about the child’s wellbeing or safety, they can make decisions by themselves.
The name for a plan that explains your mental health problem, what treatment and support you need, and who will provide that support. Care plans might also cover what should happen if you're in a mental health crisis.
There are different types of plans, such as a Care Programme Approach (CPA) or Care and Treatment Plan (CTP). Whatever type of plan you have, you should always be given a copy of it.
This is a way of providing NHS support for people in England who have a mental health problem. It means you should have a care co-ordinator and a care plan.
These are the people look after you when you're getting treatment and support for your mental health problem. Your care team might include nurses, doctors and therapists.
They may look after you in hospital, support you through Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), or look after you at home.
These are services that support young people with their mental health.
You might see them called different names sometimes, but they offer the same type of services for young people:
Find out more in our CAMHS information hub.
This is a department of social services, run by a local authority (local government), that deals with children and young people’s social care. It's also called children and young people’s services.
Child services can:
This is a type of talking therapy with a trained therapist. It can help you look at your thinking patterns and behaviour, to help you find new ways of coping.
CBT may be face-to-face, over the phone or over video call.
This is when you’ve been discharged from hospital but you still need to follow certain rules. For example, taking medication or seeing your doctor. If you become unwell, you could be brought back to hospital.
You can only be put on a CTO if you’ve been on certain sections, like 3 or 37.
See our page on being sectioned for information about the different sections.
Confidentiality is about keeping your information private.
It means that when you talk to professionals they shouldn’t tell anyone else what you’ve said.
They will only share what you tell them in certain situations. For example, if you ask them to or if they’re worried that you or someone else could be in danger.
See our page on confidentiality for more information.
This is when you agree to something, such as going into hospital or having treatment.
You can’t consent to something unless you are competent to (if you’re 15 or below), or you have capacity (if you’re 16 or above).
Being competent or having capacity means that you understand what you’re consenting to and what might happen if you say yes or no to it.
Or local council. This is the group of people responsible for certain services in your area, like social care and education.
This is a type of talking therapy with a trained counsellor. Counselling can help you:
It may be face-to-face, over the phone or over video call.
Counsellors listen to you and give you a safe space to explore how you’re thinking, feeling and behaving. They also help you find ways to cope with things.
This means using arts (music, drawing, painting, dancing, drama) or playing games to express your thoughts and feelings.
It can also mean doing creative activities to improve your wellbeing and confidence. For example, writing or acting out stories with other young people.
You might take part in creative therapies in a group, or by yourself.
This is when you are kept somewhere, like in hospital, even if you haven’t agreed to it.
In mental health hospitals, you could be detained using a law called the Mental Health Act 1983. This is also called being sectioned.
See our page on being sectioned for more information.
This is a type of talking therapy. The aim is to help you:
You might take part in DBT by yourself, or in a group.
This means your treatment at a hospital, clinic or other service is ending. You may be discharged because:
Your care team should explain what this means, and what will happen if you need care in the future.
This is a report completed by your hospital care team when you are discharged from hospital. It should explain any diagnosis you have and summarise the care and treatment you’ve had in hospital.
Discrimination is when someone treats you differently or unfairly because of:
In the UK, a law called the Equality Act protects you from discrimination.
The Equality Act says you have a disability if you have a physical or mental health problem that has a substantial, negative, and long-term effect on your day-to-day life.
This is the law that protects you from discrimination and gives you the right to challenge it.
This means being part of a group of young people who attend therapy sessions together. It can be helpful as some problems are better understood with other people. For example, anger, self-esteem or anxiety.
Group therapy is led by a psychologist or therapist. It often combines different types of therapy, like talking therapy or creative therapy.
You might attend group therapy as your main therapy. Or you might have treatment and support on your own as well.
When you're unwell, this is where someone is appointed to be your 'guardian' instead of you being sectioned and kept in hospital.
It's your guardian’s job to make sure you get support for your mental health outside of hospital. Your guardian can also make certain decisions about you. For example, they can decide where you live or make sure you go to important appointments.
You can only be put on a guardianship if you’re 16 or above and it’s essential for your safety or someone else’s.
Hospital managers are a group of people who are responsible for the use of the Mental Health Act 1983 in a hospital.
If you’re sectioned and you want your section to end, you can ask the hospital managers. They will hold a meeting and consider your case. They can decide to end your section even if your main doctor (known as your responsible clinician) doesn’t agree.
An IMHA can help you understand your rights under the Mental Health Act 1983 and any medical treatment you’re having or might be given. They can also help you with practical things, like attending meetings or seeing your medical notes and records.
See our page on advocacy for more information about IMHAs.
This is another phrase for voluntary patient. It means that you, or someone who looks after you, agree for you to stay in hospital to get treatment and support for your mental health.
See our page on being an informal patient for more information.
This is the care you get when you’re staying in hospital. You might be an informal patient or you might be sectioned. You might also be having treatment and support for your physical health.
See our pages on being an informal patient or being sectioned for more information.
This is the local government for an area. It provides services for the people who live or are staying in the area. These include health services, social services, schools, transport and housing.
Each local government can decide how services are run. This means that some services in different areas may have different rules.
Health professionals who look after you can see your medical history. This helps them to give you good care. Your medical history includes details of:
This is when a group of health professionals meet with you to see if you need to go into hospital to get treatment and support for your mental health. If they all agree that you need to go into hospital, you could be sectioned. You may also hear this called an assessment.
This is a law that allows people to be sectioned if they have a mental health problem and need treatment. It applies to both England and Wales.
This is a special court that you can apply to when you’re sectioned. The Tribunal decides whether your section can end. They can also give advice about things like hospital leave, hospital transfers and being put on a Community Treatment Order (CTO).
In England, the Tribunal is called the Mental Health Tribunal. In Wales, the Tribunal is called the Mental Health Review Tribunal for Wales.
When you have a Tribunal hearing, three people make the decisions. These include:
This is a family member who has certain responsibilities for you if you're sectioned or on a Community Treatment Order (CTO).
You nearest relative should usually be told if you’re going to be sectioned. They can also:
You can’t choose who your nearest relative is. The Mental Health Act 1983 sets out a list of people who it can be. It’s usually the person who is highest up on this list:
This is a type of treatment with a trained therapist. It can help you build your confidence and skills in things like cooking, cleaning or taking public transport.
This is any information that can be used to identify you. For example, your name, address or even your IP address.
This is a document that sets out how an organisation will act in certain situations. For example, a transition policy should explain how an organisation will manage a young person leaving their services.
This is a hospital where you go to get treatment and support for your mental health.
This is a medical doctor that specialises in mental health (psychiatry). Psychiatrists can:
Psychologists help you to explore how you’re thinking, feeling and behaving. There are different types of psychologists, like clinical psychologists or occupational psychologists.
This is a request to a service asking them to review:
The referral helps explain to the new service why they should see you, and what the best way to help you might be.
Sometimes referrals can be made by yourself, a family member or social worker. But they’re often made by your doctor as they understand your medical history.
This is the doctor in charge of your care when you’re sectioned.
Only your responsible clinician can make certain decisions, such as giving you leave. They’re also the only person in your care team who can end your section. Although, there are other ways you can end your section.
See our guide on being sectioned for more information.
When you’re in hospital for your mental health, staff can use something called 'restrictive interventions' to protect yourself and others if there is a serious risk of harm.
Restrictive interventions might include:
Whenever a restrictive intervention is used, special rules must be followed. These include:
Rights generally exist to protect and help us. If you have a right or the rights to something in everyday life, it means you're entitled to have it or do it. Our rights are often set out in laws, like the Equality Act 2010. Sometimes, rights might be set out in other policies and guidelines.
Some rights can never lawfully be taken away from us. However, sometimes another law can interfere with or restrict our rights, like if we are arrested or sectioned.
For more information, see our page on your rights.
When you're in hospital, this is when a member of your care team considers the risks and benefits to you of doing or having something. For example, the risks and benefits of going on leave.
Being sectioned means that you’re kept in hospital under the Mental Health Act 1983.
There are different types of sections, each with different rules to keep you safe and give you treatment.
The length of time that you can be kept in hospital depends on which section you are on.
See our page on being sectioned for more information.
Sometimes being sectioned gives you a legal right to support. If you have been sectioned under section 3, 37, 47 or 48, you have a right to support called section 117 aftercare.
Section 117 support will be personal to you, depending on what support you need to stop your mental health from getting worse. And your right to support doesn't end until your care team agree that you no longer need that support.
See our page on being sectioned for information about the different sections.
When you're sectioned, giving leave is when your main doctor gives you permission to have time away from the ward. They might set conditions or rules for your leave, like only being allowed to go out with a parent or carer.
In some situations, you have a legal right to support from an advocate. This is called statutory advocacy.
For example, if you’re sectioned in hospital, you have the right to an Independent Mental Health Advocate (IMHA).
See our page on advocacy for more information about statutory advocacy.
These involve talking with a professional about your thoughts, feelings and behaviour. There are many types of talking therapies, such as counselling or cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). You usually take part for an agreed length of time and number of sessions.
This is a trained professional who runs or supervises your therapy. Therapists help you explore how you’re thinking, feeling and behaving, and what can help you in the future.
There are different types of training and education for therapists. This means they all have different titles, like psychologist, therapist, counsellor or psychiatrist.
This is treatment that aims to help improve your mental health and wellbeing. There are lots of different types of therapies. Here are some commons ones you might have heard of:
This is when someone moves on from a children’s service to an adult service. For example, when someone moves on from Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) to Adult Mental Health Services (AMHS).
See our page on moving to adult services for more information.
You're a voluntary patient when you, or someone who looks after you, agree for you to stay in hospital to get treatment and support for your mental health. This is sometimes called being an informal patient.
See our page on being an informal patient for more information.
This describes the area of the hospital you're staying in. You may also hear it called a unit.
This information was published in December 2020. We will revise it in 2023.
References are available on request. If you would like to reproduce any of this information, see our page on permissions and licensing.
