OTHER PLACES TO LOOK
Finding further support
Sometimes it helps to look beyond a single resource or perspective.
This page brings together organisations and websites where you can explore a subject further, find additional information or consider whether other support might be useful for your family.
You can browse what feels relevant to your situation. You don't need to explore everything, and these links are starting points rather than individual recommendations about what your family needs.
Explore further
The organisations and websites below offer different kinds of information and support. Each description will help you understand what you may find there before deciding whether to visit.
Emotional wellbeing
Information about children and young people's mental health and routes to further help.
YoungMinds
YoungMinds provides information and support around children and young people's mental health, including guidance for parents and carers and a Parents Helpline.
Useful for: You want to understand more about a young person's mental health, think about what support may be available, or prepare to speak with a professional.
Before you use it: YoungMinds is an independent charity, not part of the NHS. Its Parents Helpline is not a crisis service.
NHS
The NHS website provides health information for children, young people and families, including information about anxiety, mental health and accessing NHS services.
Useful for: You want health information, NHS service information, or guidance about when and where to seek further help.
Before you use it: The NHS routes linked here are for England. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have different health-service arrangements.
Behaviour, relationships and learning
Resources for family life, relationships and learning, depending on what you and your child need.
FamilyLine — Family Action
FamilyLine offers free emotional support, information and guidance about family life, including relationships, conflict, parenting, caring and financial worries. It is available to people aged 18 and over in England and Wales.
Useful for: You are a parent or carer who would like to talk something through with another person, or you need help finding relevant support.
Before you use it: FamilyLine is for adults aged 18 and over. Check its current opening times and contact options before using the service.
BBC Bitesize
BBC Bitesize provides curriculum-linked learning and study resources for children and young people.
Useful for: You are looking for help with schoolwork, learning or study rather than parenting or mental-health support.
Before you use it: The content and sections available can change. Choose the area that best fits your child's stage and what they are trying to learn.
Finding local or specialist support
Directories and services that can help you explore support in your area or find someone your child can talk to.
Hub of Hope
Hub of Hope is a UK-wide mental-health support directory. It brings together local and national services and lets you search for support by location and other filters.
Useful for: You are looking for a service near you, or you are not sure what kind of mental-health support may be available locally.
Before you use it: The directory includes different types of services. Check the individual service information to see whether it matches your needs, age and location.
Childline
Childline is a free, confidential service for anyone under 19 in the UK. Children and young people can talk to a counsellor about anything that is troubling them, by phone or online.
Useful for: A child or young person wants to speak to someone outside the family about something that is troubling them.
Before you use it: Childline is a service for children and young people rather than a parent advice service. Check its current information for contact options and availability.
Urgent / crisis support
Some situations need more than general information.
Need urgent support?
If someone is in immediate danger, life is at risk, or you do not feel you can keep yourself or someone else safe, call 999 or go to A&E.
In England, if you need urgent mental-health help but it is not an emergency, call NHS 111 and select the mental-health option.
Shout offers free, confidential text support for people in the UK who are struggling to cope. To start a conversation, text SHOUT to 85258.
Shout is not a replacement for emergency services if someone's life is at imminent risk.
Urgent contacts
Emergency: 999
NHS 111 mental-health option (England): 111
Shout: Text SHOUT to 85258
Before you use urgent-support information
Service details can change. Check the current organisation's website where possible, but do not delay contacting emergency or urgent services when immediate help is needed.
Support closer to home
National organisations are not always the only useful route.
Local support can vary, and you may need to ask more than one place. That does not mean you have chosen the wrong route. It may simply take a little time to find the service that fits.
You do not always need a national organisation. Depending on what is happening, it may be useful to talk with your child's school or college, your GP, your local NHS service, or your local council to find out what support is available in your area.
What matters is finding the kind of support that fits what is happening now.
Looking elsewhere for support is not a failure. Sometimes it is simply the next useful place to look.