Crisis services and planning for a crisis

This guide explains what mental health crisis services are available, how they can help and when to access them. It also explains how you can plan for a crisis. If you're feeling in crisis right now, see our emergency advice.

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What are day services?

Day services provide support for people coping with mental health problems outside of hospital.

This page covers:

When should I use day services?

If you're managing a mental health crisis at home and you'd find it helpful to get more support or have opportunities to meet other people in similar situations.

You might use day services alongside other support – for example, from your GP, community mental health team, crisis team (CRHT) or social care.

How could they help me?

Day services can include:

drop-in centres
acute day hospital services
one-to-one support
group support.

Day services might provide support, help you learn self-management techniques that could help in the future or simply give you a change of scene. They can include:

talking therapies and counselling
other therapies such as arts therapies
activities such as gardening or ecotherapy
opportunities to talk to others or get peer support
opportunities to have peace and quiet.

Staff will usually have a good knowledge of local services, and close links with the local community mental health team (CMHT).

I once had to have the NHS community mental health team come out to assess me. Their service was good, but the next team I saw were better, and so was the day centre.

How can I access them?

You can find day services near you through:

Your GP – they might know of local services you can access.
NHS service finder – you can search online for NHS services near you, including day centres.
Your local crisis team (CRHT) or community mental health team (CMHT), if you're in contact with them.
Your local Mind – many local Minds offer activities and services to support you in looking after your mental health.
Crisis houses – some let you visit during the day to access their support programmes, even if you're not staying overnight.

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Unfortunately we can’t reply to this. If you want a response from us, see our Contact us page.
If you are in crisis right now and want to talk to someone urgently then you could call Samaritans on 116 123 (freephone). Our pages on crisis services have more options.

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This information was published in October 2018.

This page is currently under review. All content was accurate when published.

References and bibliography available on request.

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