A joint report by the charity Rethink and the National Institute for Mental Health in England reveals that mental health crisis helplines have a crucial impact on maintaining mental health and dealing with the risks of self-harm and suicide. The study’s key results from helpline staff and local mental health professionals indicated that helplines:

• provide valuable listening space, especially after hours
• play an active role in the prevention of suicide and self-harm
• are a central component in care packages.

Service users claimed that the lines also helped them with anxiety and depression, provided support when they were at risk, offered relief about being able to talk ‘out of hours’, lessened isolation and helped restore a sense  of control. Caroline Steele from the Department of Health said, ‘We want to see an increase in the capacity of helpline support that can be accessed seven days a week and which offers local knowledge and strong connections with other sources of help.’ The full report is available at www.rethink.org/research www.rethink.org