Dr Alexandra Pitman is an Associate Professor in Psychiatry in the UCL Division of Psychiatry and an Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist at Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust. Her research interests are in the epidemiology of suicide and self-harm, and preventing suicide.

She will be giving a talk on “The impact of peer suicide, suicide attempt, and self-harm on risk of self-harm and suicidal behaviour” at the forthcoming IoMH Annual Conference, which takes place online on Wednesday 15th September 2021: www.ucl.ac.uk/mental-health/iomh…nference-programme

Poster presentations can be submitted here: www.ucl.ac.uk/mental-health/iomh…ster-presentations

Tickets cost £10 and can be purchased here: www.ucl.ac.uk/mental-health/iomh…rence-registration

If you're in crisis and need to talk right now, there are many helplines staffed by trained people ready to listen. They won't judge you, and could help you make sense of what you're feeling.

Samaritans. To talk about anything that is upsetting you, you can contact Samaritans 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. You can call 116 123 (free from any phone), email jo@samaritans.org or visit some branches in person. You can also call the Samaritans Welsh Language Line on 0808 164 0123 (7pm–11pm every day).

SANEline. If you're experiencing a mental health problem or supporting someone else, you can call SANEline on 0300 304 7000 (4.30pm–10.30pm every day).

Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM). You can call the CALM on 0800 58 58 58 (5pm–midnight every day) if oyou are struggling and need to talk. Or if you prefer not to speak on the phone, you could try the CALM webchat service.

Urgent mental health helplines (England only)

If you live in England, you can call a local NHS urgent mental health helpline for support during a mental health crisis. Anyone can call these helplines, at any time. These helplines offer similar support to a crisis team. The NHS website has more information on urgent mental health helplines, including how to find your local helpline.