Frequently Asked Questions

To start with, if you think you are in immediate danger to yourself or others then you should get help straight way. Go to our crisis page where you will have info on breathing exercises, harm reduction techniques and contact details for crisis lines with an explanation on what crisis lines there are for.

Many people have different thresholds to how much they can deal with before needing support. If you bottle it up and bottle it up and ignore what it is that you might be struggling with, it may mean the problem gets worse over time.

Help can come in many different forms, you might be able to help yourself or you may find help and support from a friend or a family member or someone you trust. Talking to someone may help ease the way you are feeling right now.

Also, knowing what things help you or trigger you on a day to day basis will allow you to prepare and reduce the intensity of the lows or anxieties you feel. Pay close attention to what is going on in your life and how it is making you feel.

If what you are trying to manage is affecting you every day. If you feel like you are just keeping your head above the water. If you have talked to your friends and family and you can’t motivate yourself to do anything to help yourself, it might be time to reach out to a service for support. This may be a mentoring service, counselling service or contacting your GP.

We have all seen the headlines, GP’s are over stretched and it may take time for you to get an appointment. They will only have a few minutes for your appointment so go prepared. We advise lots of people we support to write things down to make sure they say everything they want too.

They will probably ask a bit about you, your lifestyle and what you currently do, school, college, and work. They might ask you about your hobbies, social life and what your family life is like, who you live with and what support you have.

Medication is one option but helping yourself, support and services will also be discussed. They can suggest things and will come to some sort of plan with you, every situation is different and so is every doctor.

Remember, if you are not happy, you can try again or ask for a different doctor.

All counsellors work a bit differently but that’s usually down to their personality. As one young person told us, their first counsellor was funny and easy to get along with and their next one was a little more serious but just as comforting. The counsellor will adapt to you but what most counsellors will do is start by introducing themselves, they will tell you about how they work and ask you what it is you would like to work on in the amount of sessions that you have with them. They will also set some boundaries with you about confidentiality, the relationship has to be built on trust so they will be honest with you and explain how it works.

Reasons people go to counselling:

• To discuss things you may not be able to with anyone else
• To find a coping mechanism to help you
• To make sense of your thoughts and feelings
• To talk about your relationships with others and how they affect you
• Let out stress and annoyances in your life

Reasons we have had counselling:

• Struggling to cope at school
• An eating disorder
• A traumatic event
• Bereavement
• Gender
• Sexuality
• Parents splitting up

Don’t worry they won’t be expecting you to jump straight in with all your heavy emotions and appreciate it may take a little time for you to completely open up and that’s absolutely fine.

Some counsellors will use a thing called a “Core 10”, which is a way of trying to measure how you may be feeling, breaking it down into a few more specific things you might be struggling with.

Ultimately the counsellor will try help you work out and discover what it is that you need help with and try and begin putting in steps and ways that can help you.

Although the questions will be asked by the counsellor, the sessions are usually driven by you, what you say and how you feel.

The thing to try to remember is that you are allowed to struggle talking about sensitive and emotional topics so it does take time. Sometimes people find it a little bit easier to write things down so you don’t forget something that you wanted to talk about.

You may be nervous the first time you go don’t worry, I was and 7 years later I still get counselling now and then.

There are a few different types of counselling, talking therapies and Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT). But each counselling service will be able to tell you what they offer and how it works. Have a look at the services on offer and think about what you might like or what might help your situation.

So CBT, its most commonly used to treat anxiety and depression.

It tries to identify situations that may be troubling you and how you respond to these situations.

The process of CBT tries to get you to understand your negative emotions and thought processes and allow you to challenge them so they don’t spiral and get worse

The outcome of CBT is changing your attitudes and behaviour in response to particular situations you might find difficult.

Cognitive therapy – examining the things you think

Behaviour therapy – examining the things you do

Cognitive Behavioural therapy – examining how the things you think affects how you behave and challenging them negative thoughts and that harmful cycle of thinking

If you need help it might just be about what service is open or accepting referrals.

Some services might direct you to something more suited to you (this is called signposting) It also might be because you might not be eligible for that service. This is common and we do it with adults too. Someone might give us a ring and say they want to do mindfulness, but actually it’s not right for them and their situation and we might suggest something called confidence and resilience. Or you might be accessing one service, like a youth group at The Island but also need some counselling with York Mind to help you with anxiety.

You can think about the past and you may be worried about the future but how often do you just take in the moment you are in there and then. Your senses, the world around you, the conversations you are having with people are all things where you can take time and be a little bit more aware of what is around you in the present moment.

When you are stressed, upset or worried, it’s very difficult to try and take a step back and reflect on the current moment because you are focused, even overwhelmed by what it is you are thinking of. But mindfulness can help you to do this.

Mindfulness tries to help you appreciate the moments you are in and the positives which you might find hard to remember if you weren’t to consciously think about it. It helps your concentration, memory as well as allowing you to not only accept the here and now, but appreciate it also.

I’ve said a lot on the website that it is important for you to be aware of what it is that affects you both positive and negatively. Mindfulness is a strategy that can be employed which allows you to be aware of these things in different situations and being better aware of what it is that impacts you allows you to be better placed to deal with it.

Anyone can learn how to do mindfulness and there are a variety of different ways to do it, from self-help courses online and apps such as “headspace”, to actual classes that teach you why it can help and how to engage in it.

Things like meditation, yoga, walking a keeping a diary are all ways that can give you a way to be mindful and practice being in the moment with what you are doing.

Being present in the moment, not worrying about what it is that I have said previously and not worrying about where and what I’m doing next allows me to enjoy the situation at that time. It really helps me remember what has gone on also which stops me questioning what I may or may not have said.

Only a GP or a psychiatrist can prescribe medications to you.

Medication is usually used alongside other forms of therapy, this may be CBT, talking therapies or maybe group and peer support you may be involved.

So what are they?
It depends on the condition you are suffering with, the most common is medications for anxiety and depression which are called SSRI’s (Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors). A few of examples of these include Citalopram, Fluoxetine and Sertraline

So what are they meant to do?
They increase serotonin in your brain and the purpose of them is to improve your mood and make your emotions a bit more stable and a little less up and down.

They are not a super quick cure for depression, anxiety or any other mental illness, but they can help ease your feelings. They don’t get rid of what may be causing your struggles but they may help some negative emotions. When it comes to addressing the causes of your struggles, counselling, psychotherapy and changing behaviours in your life that impact you negatively are what is going to help in the longer term. Like medications for physical illnesses, the medication may not work straight away but over 50% of people that take them say they help.

Side effects?
Like all medication, medications for mental health can have side effects, but doesn’t mean everyone will get them. These can range from feeling sick and nauseous to sleeping problems and issues orgasming. If you are on medication and you think there are side effects that are impacting you, talk to the doctor who prescribed you the medicine and see what can be done about it, some may just ease with time.

Also, if you drink alcohol, just like all medications it is advised against doing so at the same time. Ask your doctor and they will explain why it may not be the best idea to drink when on these types of medications.

Quite a few young people have said to us that they were worried they would be sectioned, either when they first contact a service or they started opening up to a professional. Harry talks about this in episode 9 of the podcast Chat Chit. He was having suicidal thoughts and didn’t dare say it until he was several sessions in with his therapist because his fear was that he would be sectioned.

The only reason you can be sectioned is if you are a significant risk to yourself or others. This would be if you are almost immediately going to hurt yourself or someone else. And we are not talking self-harm, we are talking taking your own life or like Christina in episode 13 of the podcast and wanting to hurt herself because of the creatures that were inside her.

Essentially you have a mental illness or disorder that by nature and/or degree, is posing a risk to your own life or someone else’s, you could then be detained/sectioned under the mental health act. Meaning you can be held for a period of time, in a place of safety, for assessment and/or treatment.

You may go to Mill Lodge in Huntington if you are under 18 or Foss Park if you are over 18. But if there are no beds here, you can end up anywhere in the country especially if you need a PICU (mental health intensive care bed), these are used for people who are being physically violent towards others, there are only so many.