Evidence suggests there are 5 steps you can take to improve your mental health and wellbeing. Trying these things could help you feel more positive and able to get the most out of life. Self-help suggestions from NHS website.
Age UK is a charity that provide help for older people in numerous ways. They have a telephone friendship service for people experiencing social isolation, an advice line to help with information about benefits and finances. Their website has information about power of attorney and living wills, pensions, carers, health conditions, loneliness and remaining active. Age UK also provide help with local help at home, gardening and handyperson services, as well as social events, dementia meeting services and day cares.
Impartial advice about equipment to help make daily living easier. You fill out a questionnaire that comprehensively takes you through activities you may struggle with (e.g. breaking down 'preparing drinks' into the steps involved), and then recommends aids that you may find helpful as a result.
Asthma and Lung UK is the UK's leading lung charity. Their website contains a host of information about different lung conditions including asthma, COPD, asbestos related lung conditions, bronchiolitis, bronchiectasis, cystic fibrosis, pulmonary fibrosis, lung cancer, sleep apnoea and more. They run a helpline and can provide advice on many aspects of living with a lung condition. This includes advice on how to manage a lung condition, information about specific conditions, information about medication and treatment, lifestyle advice, managing flare-ups, and information on government financial help and funding.
National charity supporting people with eating disorders. Has a helpline, instant messaging support, an online chat room, resources and information about eating disorders, and help for friends and family.
Information about conditions affecting the cardiovascular system, such as aneurysm, angina, arrhythmias, atrial fibrillation, hypertension and others. There is also information about cholesterol, blood pressure, and lifestyle advice about management. As well as helpful information leaflets, there is a free helpline run by cardiac nurses who can provide advice on diagnoses, lifestyle advice and information about medications.
Summary of evidence for medicine use in pregnancy. Useful for doctors but can also be helpful for decision making for patients. Produced by the UK teratology information service.
An app that helps with the urge to self-harm. Helps you to ride the wave with different activities: comfort, distract, express yourself, release, breathe.
Suicide prevention helpline and webchat (both 5pm-midnight). No longer for men only, they support anyone who needs to talk about life’s problems. They have a crisis helpline. They also support people who have been bereaved through suicide. Their website also contains information and resources about specific concerns and worries, including abuse, anger, anxiety, alcohol and drugs, bullying, depression, erectile dysfunction, hair loss, homelessness, sexuality, relationship breakdown and more.
Citizens Advice is a charity that offers confidential advice online, over the phone, and in person, for free. They are independent and impartial, giving advice on They also have a consumer rights helpline, provide pension guidance, and support witnesses going through court proceedings. They provide advice on work, debts, finances, benefits, housing, the legal system, immigration, and more.
Information to help weigh up the pros and cons of different contraceptive methods.
Bereavement support and counselling. They have a helpline, an online chat service, and local support groups. They can arrange 1:1 support, counselling and also support for children experiencing grief or bereavement.
Specialist dementia nursing charity that is there for the whole family. The nurses, known as Admiral Nurses, provide free, life-changing support and advice to anyone affected by dementia. There is a free helpline and you can also book virtual-online appointments with the nursing team to ask for advice and go through any questions that you may have.
Written by the British Association of Dermatologists, this is a handbook and guide about common dermatological conditions. This includes acne, prescribing isotretinoin, rosacea, eczema, psoriasis, scabies, fungal skin infections, skin cancer, bcc, scc, melanoma, emollient and steroid prescribing. It is mainly aimed at dermatology registrars but a lot of the information is helpful in general practice too.
Diabetes UK a leading charity. Their website provides information about all aspects of diabetes (Type 1 and Type 2) including information about the prevention of type 2 diabetes, prediabetes, lifestyle advice, living with diabetes, information about treatments and the condition itself. They run a dedicated helpline with advisors who have an extensive knowledge of diabetes. They can provide information about the condition, take the time to talk things through and explore emotional, social, psychological or practical difficulties. There are also local support groups that patients can get involved in, and an online support community too.
Eczema Care Online will help you to keep your skin healthy and live well with eczema. The website has been developed by people with eczema and a team of health experts using the most up-to-date research evidence. Includes information for parents about caring for children with eczema - including info about treatments, itching, bathing, showering and washing clothes.
Eczema Care Online will help you to keep your skin healthy and live well with eczema. The website has been developed by people with eczema and a team of health experts using the most up-to-date research evidence. Includes information about treatments, diet, allergy, cosmetics, itching, and how to manage impact on life/school/work.
Designed for in-hospital ENT SHOs, this website can provide helpful overviews of acute ENT conditions. While it has a secondary care focus, it can still provide a useful guide for GPs in the assessment of conditions such as sudden sensorineural hearing loss, otitis externa, periorbital cellulitis, tonsillitis and more.
FLOWS is a legal support service, designed to help protect women against domestic abuse. They can provide advice on things such as injunctions (e.g. non-molestation orders), divorce, or what happens to somebody's home if leaving a partner.
This leaflet can help you to increase your calorie and protein intake if you have a poor appetite or have lost weight. Following the guidance to include nourishing snacks and drinks in your diet can help stop further weight loss or start to increase your weight.
Family planning association (FPA) information booklets. Written for patients, also helpful for doctors. Leaflets about contraceptive methods, emergency contraception, STIs, postnatal health, and abortion.
Gingerbread is a charity providing support and advice to single parents, so that they have the tools to support their children and themselves. This includes information about benefits, bereavement, child care, child maintenance, contact arrangements, cost of living, housing, parental responsibility and more. They also have a supportive online community where people can meet other single parents and support each other. They have an advice helpline as well as online information.
HEART UK is the UK’s only cholesterol charity, providing support, information and influencing services for families and health professionals. Website contains information about cholesterol, triglycerides, medication, and lifestyle advice to help,
Information leaflet produced by Medicines for Children. Provides advice for parents on how to teach their children to swallow tablets.
Aimed at young people but can be applicable to all relationships, self-help advice for going through a break-up and ways to help.
Asthma UK website, videos and instructions about how to use different inhalers with and without spacers. The Asthma and Lung UK website more broadly has a lot of information about different lung conditions, and a helpline with trained staff who are able to provide advice about management of different lung conditions.
Information about cervical screening for transgender men and non-binary people. Discusses what cervical screening is, what to expect, tips to help if you find it distressing.
Charity that provides advice and support for anybody living with kidney disease. This can include advice, counselling, grants and funding, benefits advice. They have a helpline, and information leaflets about CKD, dialysis and more.
Resources for patients to help towards better self-management of their long term pain. Offers knowledge, tools and resources to help patients become clearer about their needs, manage or cope with their pain well and be more effective in their use of health care. There are also resources for doctors to support patients living with chronic pain.
Living Made Easy is brought to you by the DLF, the charity previously known as the Disabled Living Foundation. Free impartial advice and information on solutions, gadgets, adaptations and aids to make life easier. Combine with Ask Sara, where you fill in a questionnaire and they make recommendations on aids which may help you around the house. Living Made Easy directs you to places where you may be able to purchase the aids you need.
Mankind is a charity supporting male victims of domestic abuse. They have a helpline that offers emotional support and practical help, including signposting to support services and making an escape plan.
Information for people who have had a miscarriage. Includes advice and information about miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, molar pregnancy, trying for pregnancy after miscarriage. Also ways of marking your loss, a support helpline.
Moodgym is like an interactive self-help book which helps you to learn and practise skills which can help to prevent and manage symptoms of depression and anxiety. Moodgym provides training in cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), and consists of five interactive modules which are completed in order. These include information, interactive exercises, workbooks to record thoughts, feelings and behaviours, and quizzes with personalised feedback.
Provides health professionals with accessible, evidence based, condition specific information to help give advice on physical activity at all stages of children, young peoples and adults treatment pathways. The "share benefits" section of each conversation gives condition specific benefits of exercise which may help motivate patients to improve their fitness.
The National Breastfeeding Helpline offers friendly, non-judgemental, independent, evidence based breastfeeding support and information to anyone in the UK who needs it. 9:30am-9:30pm daily. 0300 100 0212
Created by the Dementia Change Action Network, Next Steps provides information for people who have been referred for a memory assessment. It gives information about what to expect at a memory assessment. It also provides tools and resources to help people begin thinking about how they can continue doing what matters to them, and connects people to available sources of support.
Help for NHS front-line staff. Phoneline or text support, access to counselling, bereavement support, directory of other resources.
Information leaflets and self-help guides for mental health conditions.
"This decision aid can help patients if they are thinking about taking a statin. It is for people who do not already have heart disease and have not had a stroke." As well as discussing what statins are and their possible side effects, it demonstrates potential statin benefit according to QRISK. To get the most out of this decision aid you should inform the patient of their QRISK score.
Self-help leaflets for mental health conditions.
Confidential support and advice service and helpline for children and young people under 35 years old who are contemplating suicide. They also have a digital platform that allows users to create and modify a suicide safety-plan with the help of the advisors. This is a plan that helps with safety when suicidal thoughts are feeling overwhelming. 9am – midnight every day of the year (Weekends and Bank Holidays included) - also have a text line and email address.
Information about how to check your peak flow and how to complete a peak flow diary. The Asthma and Lung UK website more broadly has a lot of information about different lung conditions, and a helpline with trained staff who are able to provide advice about management of different lung conditions.
The Pituitary Foundation is a charity that offers practical, emotional and peer support to everyone living with or impacted by a pituitary condition, to feel empowered and live with a greater sense of wellbeing. Their website contains information about pituitary conditions such as acromegaly, cushing's, hypopituitarism, prolactinomas, pituitary adenomas and more. They also have a helpline run by endocrine nurses, a telephone buddy system and they run support groups.
24/7 National domestic abuse helpline for women experiencing domestic abuse. The helpline provides emotional and practical support. They can help with planning an escape, financial and legal advice, and can help find a refuge vacancy for people leaving an abusive situation.
RCOG has developed a number of helpful information leaflets for patients about various procedures and conditions. Includes leaflets on topics such as hysteroscopy, LLETZ, endometriosis, pelvic inflammatory disease, miscarriage, assisted delivery, pelvic girdle pain etc. A good place to source additional information for your patients.
A resource created by NHS Scotland: self help resources for people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Contains suggestions of strategies to manage issues with time management, anxiety, impulsiveness, attention, frustration, home management, problem solving, sleep etc.
Advice on sleep hygiene with tips to help with insomnia and improve sleep. An article from the Sleep Foundation (an American non-profit corporation).
An organisation offering peer-to-peer support to all those over the age of 18, impacted by suicide loss in the UK. They help those bereaved by suicide to support each other, at the time of their loss and in the months and years that follow. They offer peer led support groups, online virtual support groups, a national telephone helpline, online community forum and email support.
App designed to help with pelvic floor exercises. There is information for both men and women with pelvic floor dysfunction. Particularly helpful for women post-natally, the app guides you through an exercise plan and you can set reminders on your phone.
The Stay Alive app is a suicide prevention resource for the UK, packed full of useful information and tools to help you stay safe in crisis. Opportunities to create a 'life box', with images and videos that are important to you, and to create a safety plan. Resources including breathing exercises and signposting to links for help including emergency help.
Resources to support teenage mental health. Includes information leaflets and also links to four free mental health apps: Calm Harm (resisting self-harm impulses), Clear Fear (managing symptoms of anxiety), Move Mood (to help with low mood and depression), and Combined Minds (aimed at helping families and friends to provide mental health support). Resources on the website have sections aimed at teenagers, at schools, at healthcare professionals, at families and also at friends of somebody struggling with their mental health.
A youtube video that goes through some tai chi exercises for patients with fibromyalgia. Involves a number of seated exercises and low intensity exercises. A randomised control trial demonstrated evidence that exercise such as tai chi may be helpful for pain management in fibromyalgia; this video is one example of some exercises that they may find helpful.
The Children's Society is a resource for children who are living in difficult situations. The website provides signposting to places where they can seek help. It also has information about mental health, abuse, and practical advice about things such as household bills and finding a job.
The Silver Line Helpline is a free, confidential telephone service just for older people. They provide friendship, conversation and support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Depending on what kind of support somebody needs, they can direct people to certain services, groups or resources that may help. "Whether you’d like to exchange a quick “good morning” with someone, fancy a chat about how your day has gone, or need a trusted listening ear to share your thoughts and feelings with, we’re here to talk."
The Sleep Charity produces a wide range of evidence-based information on all aspects of sleep from triggers to treatments. This includes advice sheets and suggestions for people of all ages, with specific information for children, teens and adults. They also have a helpline where they can discuss recommendations and strategies.
Charity with free helpline, advice, information and support for anybody suffering from tinnitus. They have summarised evidence on treatments for tinnitus (including complimentary ones) with advice on their efficacy and evidence base.
Versus Arthritis is a charity that raises awareness and supports people with arthritis. Their website has information about arthritis and its various treatments, and other rheumatological conditions such as fibromyalgia. They also have a helpline for further information and advice. This page in particular has exercises to keep joints healthy and to help with arthritis related pains.
Victim Support helps anyone affected by crime. Not only those who experience it directly, but also their friends, family and any other people involved. It doesn’t matter when the crime took place, or whether it has been reported it to the police. They run a 24/7 helpline that is independent from the police, free and confidential.
Information for patients about possible next steps when presenting with gut problems: "If you have gut problems or problems with your poo, then it’s important that you get the right diagnosis. Your GP may suggest that you have several tests, examinations or investigations. We hope that this information will help you understand your pathway to getting a diagnosis and make things seem less overwhelming."
Whole body seated exercises (for seniors). The video has been created by a physiotherapist and is a beginner full chair workout covering exercises for every area of your body. Get stronger, improve your flexibility and fitness. Move better, feel better. This session goes for 55 minutes. May be helpful for patients with limited mobility who want to increase their activity levels, strength, flexibility.
Information and support for women experiencing domestic abuse. Contains a survivor's handbook with advice about how to safely leave an abusive relationship. The website directs to other agencies for support including the Refuge domestic abuse helpline.
Detailed factsheets on the most common gynaecological conditions and sexual health. Helpful information and infographics for HRT including a factsheet on risk factors for breast cancer (putting HRT into context).
Mental health resources for children and teenagers. Includes advice and a helpline for parents, and advice written for teens.