Find support
Practical help when you need it.
This page brings together trusted sources of support for people working across Acute Medicine. Whether you need someone to talk to, help with something happening at work, profession-specific support or guidance on a particular issue, you can find a route to the right help here.
If you are in immediate distress or at risk, please reach out now.
SAM is not an emergency or crisis service. Use the urgent support section to find appropriate services and routes to immediate help.
What do you need help with?
Choose the area that best fits what you need. Each route takes you directly to relevant support, services and resources on this page.
Emotional wellbeing & burnout
Support for stress, anxiety, burnout and looking after your mental health.
Work & career concerns
Help with workplace challenges, career uncertainty and returning to work.
Bullying, harassment & discrimination
Support if you are experiencing unacceptable behaviour or discrimination at work.
Financial support
Advice and resources for financial wellbeing during difficult or unexpected circumstances.
Bereavement & loss
Support for grief, loss and for helping colleagues or patients through bereavement.
Professional support by role
Tailored resources for doctors, nursing, pharmacy, AHPs and the wider MDT.
Support across the UK
Find relevant services in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Not sure where to start?
A simple route finder can help you decide which kind of support may be most useful.
Emotional wellbeing & burnout
If work is beginning to feel overwhelming, there are places you can turn for practical and confidential support.
Stress, exhaustion and burnout can affect anyone working in a demanding clinical environment. The resources here provide a starting point for information, coping strategies and professional support.
Useful places to start
External services open in a new tabMind
Practical information and coping techniques for times when you feel overwhelmed, anxious or out of control.
Practitioner Health
A free, confidential NHS mental health and addiction service with expertise in supporting health and care professionals.
BMA wellbeing support
Wellbeing advice and support for doctors and medical students, including help with stress, burnout and difficult experiences.
Support specific to your role
Find professional, counselling, peer-support and wellbeing resources tailored to your profession.
Work & career concerns
Sometimes it is not easy to separate wellbeing from what is happening at work. Workload, relationships, health, career uncertainty or a difficult employment situation can all affect how we feel.
What is affecting you?
Choose the route that best matches your situation.
Bullying, harassment & discrimination
Unacceptable behaviour at work can affect confidence, wellbeing and your ability to do your job. You may not immediately know whether what you are experiencing is bullying, harassment, discrimination or another workplace concern — and you do not need to decide that before seeking advice.
I think I am being bullied or harassed
Acas provides practical guidance on recognising bullying, raising concerns informally or formally, keeping a record and getting further advice in England, Scotland and Wales.
I think I may have experienced discrimination
The Equality Advisory and Support Service provides information and support on equality and human-rights issues across England, Scotland and Wales.
I need to speak up about a wider concern
Freedom to Speak Up can help NHS workers in England raise concerns about patient safety, governance or wider organisational issues when speaking up through usual routes feels difficult.
NHS England advises that personal employment matters which affect only the individual are usually best raised within the employing organisation, for example through HR, a local Freedom to Speak Up Guardian, a trade union or the organisation's grievance process. Wider concerns about patient safety, governance or serious organisational failings may follow a different speaking-up route.
It can help to keep things clear
If you decide to seek advice or raise a concern, a few practical steps may make it easier to explain what has happened.
Financial support
Money worries can affect anyone. A change in health, caring responsibilities, loss of income, unexpected costs or simply the pressure of everyday bills can quickly become difficult to manage. Free advice and, in some circumstances, financial assistance are available.
I need help getting on top of my finances
MoneyHelper provides free guidance on bills, budgeting, income, debt, borrowing and other financial difficulties.
I'm struggling with debt or missed payments
Use MoneyHelper's locator to find free and confidential debt advice online, by telephone or face to face.
I want to check what financial help I could receive
Turn2us provides benefits information, a benefits calculator and a grants search for charitable funds that may be able to help.
Help from within your profession
Some healthcare professions have charities that can provide financial assistance to eligible colleagues experiencing hardship.
Royal Medical Benevolent Fund
Financial support, money advice and other assistance for eligible doctors, medical students and their families.
Cavell
Financial support and practical help for eligible nurses, midwives, nursing associates and maternity support workers.
Pharmacist Support
Financial assistance and money support for eligible pharmacists, former pharmacists, trainees, students and dependants.
Can't see a profession-specific fund? Turn2us can search charitable grants based on your individual circumstances, including employment history and other eligibility factors.
Search for grantsBereavement & loss
Grief is personal and does not follow a timetable. You may be dealing with the death of someone close to you, the loss of a colleague, or the emotional impact of deaths encountered through clinical work. Support is available if you need somewhere to turn.
Find the kind of support you need
Different people need different things at different points after a loss.
Loss can reach us in different ways
Working in healthcare does not make us immune to grief — and professional exposure to death can sometimes sit alongside losses in our own lives.
Give yourself permission to seek support. Your GP, employer, local bereavement services, faith or community support and specialist organisations may all have a role.
The death of a patient or colleague can have a real emotional impact. Peer support, debriefing where appropriate, Occupational Health, EAP or local staff-support services may help.
Listening, acknowledging the loss and allowing someone to tell you what they need can matter more than finding the perfect words.
Practical questions after a death
Bereavement can bring administrative, legal and financial questions at the same time as grief. The Bereavement Advice Centre provides information and signposting on practical matters following a death.
Looking for support specific to your profession? We bring together professional and peer-support routes later on this page.
Support by roleProfessional support by role
Different professions have their own support services, professional bodies, peer networks and sources of advice. Choose the role that best reflects your professional background to find some useful places to start.
Doctors & medical students
Confidential counselling, peer support, wellbeing information and specialist healthcare-professional support.
BMA wellbeing services
Free and confidential 24/7 counselling and peer support available to doctors and medical students.
BMA sources of support
A wider directory covering mental health, addiction, grief, financial concerns, legal support and other situations.
Practitioner Health
Confidential NHS mental health and addiction support with expertise in treating health and care professionals.
Nursing
Confidential counselling, peer support and mental-health resources from the Royal College of Nursing.
RCN Counselling Service
Free, confidential counselling for RCN members dealing with personal or work-related difficulties.
RCN Peer Support Service
Peer-support routes for members experiencing particular health or wellbeing challenges.
RCN mental health & wellbeing
Guidance covering stress, depression, trauma, grief, relationships and other issues affecting wellbeing.
Pharmacy
Confidential wellbeing, peer, financial and workplace support for pharmacists, trainees and students.
Pharmacist Support
Mental-health guidance, counselling, Listening Friends peer support, addiction support and wellbeing resources.
Pharmacist Support — all services
Support spanning wellbeing, finances, personal circumstances, work, study and training.
Royal College of Pharmacy
Workforce-wellbeing resources and work focused on improving the experience of the pharmacy workforce.
Therapy & Allied Health Professions
Professional advice, workplace support and routes to help through professional bodies and local services.
RCOT Professional Advisory Service
Professional and confidential support for RCOT members on workplace and professional-practice issues.
CSP Professional Advice Service
Confidential professional advice for CSP members from experienced physiotherapists on practice-related concerns.
Support through your workplace
Occupational Health, employee assistance, professional supervision, managers and unions may all offer support regardless of profession.
Advanced practice & the wider MDT
Multi-professional advanced-practice support, restorative supervision and routes that are available across professional boundaries.
Centre for Advancing Practice — supervision
NHS England guidance recognises restorative supervision as part of supporting professional wellbeing and development in advanced practice.
Practitioner Health
Confidential specialist mental-health and addiction support for health and care professionals who meet the service criteria.
Wellbeing conversations
NHS England resources for safe and effective conversations about health, wellbeing, flexible working and support.
Support across the UK
Health and wellbeing support is organised differently across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Choose where you work to find the most relevant national or regional routes.
Support for NHS people in England
NHS England maintains national wellbeing resources alongside support provided by individual employers. Specialist confidential treatment is also available through Practitioner Health for eligible NHS staff who cannot access care confidentially through local routes.
National routes
Useful places to start alongside support available from your own organisation.
Support available for NHS people
National wellbeing information and routes covering mental health, physical health, financial wellbeing and other specific support needs.
Practitioner Health
Mental-health and addiction treatment for eligible NHS staff in England who have a genuine reason they cannot access care confidentially through local routes.
National support for Scotland's health and care workforce
The National Wellbeing Hub is designed for everyone working in health, social care and social work in Scotland, with wellbeing resources, local services and routes to confidential help.
Scotland-wide support
National wellbeing resources plus specialist confidential mental-health treatment for eligible regulated professionals.
National Wellbeing Hub
Find national and local wellbeing support for people working across health, social care and social work in Scotland.
Workforce Specialist Service
Confidential mental-health treatment for eligible regulated health and social-care professionals in Scotland who cannot access treatment confidentially through usual routes.
Canopi: support for NHS and social-care staff
Canopi provides free and confidential mental-health support for NHS and social-care staff across Wales, including self-help, peer support, guided support and psychological therapies.
Wales-wide support
Start with Canopi or explore the wellbeing services provided by your own Health Board or employer.
Canopi
Free and confidential mental-health support for NHS and social-care staff across Wales.
Refer yourself to Canopi
Eligible NHS and social-care staff can use Canopi's online self-referral process to request mental-health support.
HSC workforce wellbeing support
Northern Ireland has a Regional Workforce Wellbeing Network alongside wellbeing provision delivered through individual Health and Social Care organisations and Trusts.
Northern Ireland routes
Regional workforce resources sit alongside the support provided locally by HSC organisations.
Regional Workforce Wellbeing Network
A regional resource hub bringing together wellbeing information and materials for people working across Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland.
Strengthening Our Core
Northern Ireland's regional framework for HSC staff health and wellbeing, with an emphasis on prevention, early intervention and healthier working environments.
Not sure where to start?
You do not need to know the name of the service you need. Choose the statement that feels closest to what is happening and we will point you towards the most relevant part of this page.
Which feels closest?
Choose one option. This simply helps you navigate the support available on this page.
We will suggest the most relevant section of the Find Support page.
This route finder is simply a navigation aid. It does not assess, diagnose or determine what support you should use.
Urgent support
If you need urgent help for your mental health, there are services you can contact directly. The right route depends partly on how immediate the situation is and where in the UK you are.
If you or someone else is in immediate danger
Call 999 or go to the nearest Emergency Department. This includes an immediate risk to life, serious self-harm, overdose or another medical emergency.
Need urgent mental-health help?
If the situation is urgent but there is not an immediate life-threatening emergency, use the route for the nation you are in.
NHS 111 mental-health support
Call NHS 111 and select the mental-health option to access urgent mental-health support and speak to a trained professional.
NHS urgent mental-health helpNHS 24 Mental Health Hub
Call 111 and choose the mental-health option. The Mental Health Hub provides urgent support for people of all ages, 24 hours a day.
NHS Scotland urgent helpNHS 111 Wales — press 2
Call NHS 111 and select option 2 for urgent mental-health support. The service is available to people of all ages, 24 hours a day.
NHS 111 Wales mental healthLifeline
Lifeline provides free, confidential crisis support for anyone in Northern Ireland who is distressed, overwhelmed or struggling to cope, 24 hours a day.
Find out about LifelineIf you are already receiving care from a mental-health service and have been given a crisis or emergency contact in your care plan, you can also use that route.
Support is only one part of flourishing
The Wellbeing Hub also explores how we can look after ourselves and each other, build healthier teams and challenge the working conditions that make it harder to provide the care our patients need.
SAM provides these links for information and signposting. External organisations are responsible for their own services, eligibility criteria and content. SAM does not provide clinical, employment, legal or financial advice through this directory.