NHS Mental Health Services: How to Get Support

If you are struggling with your mental health, the NHS has services that can help — and in England, the main route to talking therapy does not need a GP referral at all. This guide explains the routes in: your GP, self-referral to NHS Talking Therapies, and crisis help. It describes the services and how to reach them. It does not diagnose, assess, or recommend any treatment, and it does not describe therapies as recommendations. If you need help now, the crisis section below gives the numbers.

The routes in

There are three main ways into NHS mental-health support in England. The first is your GP: your GP can refer you to local services, prescribe where appropriate, and follow up with you over time. The second is self-referral to NHS Talking Therapies, described below — you can usually refer yourself directly online, without seeing your GP first. The third is crisis help, for when you need support urgently.

Which route is right depends on your situation. If you are already seeing your GP about your mental health, they are the natural starting point. If you want talking therapy and you know what you are looking for, self-referral is usually the fastest route. If you feel unsafe, or you are worried about someone else, use the crisis numbers in the key box above.

NHS Talking Therapies

NHS Talking Therapies — formerly called IAPT, Improving Access to Psychological Therapies — is the main NHS route to free talking therapy for common problems including anxiety, depression, phobias, and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). In England you can usually self-refer directly online, without a GP referral. You generally need to be registered with a GP and aged 18 or over, though in some areas the age is 16 or over.

After you refer yourself, the service will contact you for an assessment — a conversation about what you are experiencing and what help might suit you. That assessment is done by the service, not by this site, and this guide does not try to predict what it will recommend. What it does tell you is how long you can expect to wait, and what standards the service is judged against.

Waiting-time standards — and how the service is doing

The waiting-time standards for NHS Talking Therapies in England are that 75% of people should start treatment within 6 weeks of referral, and 95% within 18 weeks. In August 2026, the median wait from referral to first treatment was 17 days, and England met both national standards. There were 131 NHS Talking Therapies providers reporting that month.

The picture in December 2025 was similar: 88.6% of referrals waited less than 6 weeks to access NHS Talking Therapies. Waiting times vary by area and by service, and the national figures are averages — your local service may be faster or slower. If you have been referred and have heard nothing, contact the service to check.

Crisis help

If you need urgent help, call NHS 111 and choose the mental-health option (option 2). It is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for yourself or for someone else, at any age. The service can connect you with local crisis teams and other support.

You can also call Samaritans on 116 123 — free, 24 hours a day — or text SHOUT to 85258, a 24-hour text service. These services are run by charities, not the NHS, but they are the numbers the NHS itself signposts people to. If life is at risk — for yourself or someone else — call 999 or go to A&E.

Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland

Outside England, the route into talking therapy is different. In Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, the standard route is a GP referral, not self-referral. If you live in one of those nations, see your GP first, and check the guidance for your own nation on the NHS website for that nation.

Whatever nation you are in, the crisis numbers work across the UK: NHS 111 option 2, Samaritans on 116 123, and texting SHOUT to 85258. If you are supporting someone else — a family member, a friend, or a colleague — you can use these numbers too, and your GP can advise you on local services.

Sources: NHS England, NHS Talking Therapies Monthly Statistics, August 2026; nhs.uk, NHS Talking Therapies; NHS trust guidance on crisis help.