Mental Health
Understanding your mental health
If you are feeling low, anxious, or are worried about your mental health, you can book an
appointment with your GP. They will be able to support you with referrals for counselling or
therapy and explore other care options. They may have a mental health professional such as a
mental health nurse or psychological wellbeing practitioner available to see.
If you need to speak to someone urgently you can call 111, use 111 online or call Samaritans on
116 123. There are more crisis phone lines at the end of this booklet.
There are often long waiting lists for counselling and therapy in England and finding some ways to manage
your mental health while waiting could help you.
We understand that many people seeking asylum will have been through some really difficult experiences that
have led them to come here. The asylum process itself can be hard on our mental health, especially factors
like living in a hotel room, restrictions on work and the uncertainty of waiting for an asylum decision. Given all
these things it’s important that you have other support available to you.
There is no shame in feeling down, depressed, anxious or scared, and often these are natural responses to
the challenging situations you may be in. We want to provide you with some tips and ways that could help
you get through tougher times.
Emotions and Feelings Wheel
Here you can see an emotions and feelings wheel.
As you can see, there are many different emotions that can result in different states or feelings within your body.
This tool may be helpful for you to use to recognise and understand your emotions when your needs are either met or not met. This may be useful in boosting your self-awareness and reflection.
Trauma
Difficult experiences that change the way see things can be called trauma. Trauma can impact our mental and physical health. Find out more here
Looking after your mental health
Click here to find ways you can look after your mental health and cope with uncomfortable emotions.
Stay Alive App
This app is a pocket suicide prevention resource packed full of useful information and tools to help you stay safe in crisis. You can use it if you are having thoughts of suicide or if you are concerned about someone else who may be considering suicide.
It has activities you can do if you are feeling intense emotions and ideas of how to help you keep going if you are struggling.