CRISIS
What is a crisis?
A crisis, in psychological terms, is the feeling of being unable to cope with life’s difficulties. As a result, a young person may show a significant decrease in mood, an increase in self-harm, other risky behaviors, suicidal thoughts or attempts.
Often a crisis is how a person deals with the event rather than with the event itself.
“…crisis is a perception or experience of an event or situation as an intolerable difficulty that exceeds the person’s current resources and coping mechanisms.” (James and Gilliland, 2001)
What support is there if you go into CRISIS?
If you or a family member is in crisis, there are various ways to access support. If you are already in CAMHS, you can phone and speak with your clinician for advice during the working day. If you are not in CAMHS, you can get an appointment with your GP to request a referral for CAMHS assessment. It may be that you need to go to A&E for some medical care as a result of a crisis and you will have a mental state assessment by a qualified professional.
What support can I get if I am not suitable for CAMHS?
If you are referred to CAMHS, the CAMHS team will review your case and will refer you to the best support for you.
The following local and national organizations offer support for young people who are finding it difficult to cope-
CHILDLINE
Children and young people can telephone ChildLine on 0800 1111 to talk about any problem. ChildLine is the free and confidential helpline for children and young people up to the age of 18 in the UK. Young people can contact ChildLine about any problem, big or small. It is open 24 hours, 365 days a year! It is part of the NSPCC and you can find much more about it on the NSPCC site www.nspcc.org.uk.
ONLINE ABUSE
Abuse can also happen online too – on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or other social networking sites. A special branch of the police called CEOP (Child Exploitation and On-line Protection) work to protect children and young people from sexual exploitation – in the online and offline world. You can check out how you can keep safe at www.thinkuknow.co.uk On this site you can get in touch with someone who can help if you are worried, or you have a gut feeling that something is not right with a conversation or a ‘meeting’ on-line.
What can I do if I am worried about someone?
If you are worried about someone, it can help to talk about it. Try and talk to your friend and ask them to tell you what is wrong. It might be very difficult for them to speak about what is wrong, especially if they are scared or worried about what will happen if they do talk. If they don’t want to talk to you, suggest that they talk to a teacher or someone else they trust about what is happening. If you think your friend might be in danger or are really worried about them, you could tell an appropriate adult, such as a parent, school nurse or teacher.
Will telling someone get me in trouble?
No, telling an adult if your friend is having problems will not get you in trouble. It’s natural that your friend might not want to tell anyone, and it might be because they are scared but it is OK to talk to someone if you are worried, even if your friend says that they don’t want you to. You may be keeping your friend safe from danger so your actions may be very helpful for your friend.
‘Epic friends’ is a website with information about how to help a friend who might be struggling (http://epicfriends.co.uk/answering)
Please don’t worry about things alone! Talk to someone you can trust to help.