If you're worried about someone else

Many people struggle to cope at one point or another of their lives. Experiencing a range of emotions during these times is common.

• Feeling restless and agitated
• Feeling tearful
• Not wanting to talk to or be with people
• Not wanting to do things you usually enjoy
• Using alcohol or drugs to cope with feelings
• Finding it hard to cope with everyday things
• Not replying to messages or being distant

You might not always be able to spot these signs, especially as people start to physically self-isolate. These emotions show up differently in everyone, and they may be more difficult to spot if you're seeing less of the people you're close to.

It can be useful to identify these situations that can trigger suicidal thoughts or make it hard for someone to cope.

• relationship and family problems
• loss, including loss of a friend or a family member through bereavement
• financial worries
• job-related stress
• college or study-related stress
• loneliness and isolation
• challenging current events
• depression
• painful and/or disabling physical illness
• heavy use of or dependency on alcohol or other drugs
• thoughts of suicide

Again, these may not apply to everyone who is struggling, but they can be useful to look out for.

• Talk to them about their feelings. Here's our advice on having a difficult conversation.
• Encourage them to contact us. They can call on 116 123, email [email protected] or send us a letter.
• If they need advice on a particular issue, they can get in touch with one of these specialist organisations.
• You can contact us on their behalf. If you call us or email, we can reach out to them. We won't tell them you asked us to do that unless you want us to.
• If you think they are in immediate danger, you can call an ambulance on 999. We can call an ambulance on your behalf.

You can look out for similar signs and situations, and should try talking to them about their feelings, following our suggestions above.

Some phrases or themes to watch out for in social media updates and online messages include:

• I want to give up
• No-one would notice if I wasn’t here
• I hate myself

We all experience not being okay differently. Not everyone who is struggling to cope will use these phrases, in fact some people might not be posting or messaging at all. If there's someone you're worried about and they're self-isolating, or their support network is self-isolating, it is important to try to check in through the channel you normally use to chat to them to make sure they're okay.

Supporting someone in distress can be distressing in itself. If you're helping someone who's struggling, make sure you take care of yourself as well.

If you need to talk about how you are feeling, please call Samaritans on 116 123, or email on [email protected], whenever you need.