Safeguarding
01.
Emergency Support
If you or someone you know requires urgent mental assistance, please call 999/111 or visit your nearest A&E to seek help from the Mental Crisis Team.
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Suicide attempt: If someone is showing clear signs of self-harm or has an immediate plan to take their own life.
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Violent behaviour: If a person becomes extremely aggressive and poses an immediate threat to themselves or others.
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Sudden anxiety or panic attack: Symptoms such as rapid breathing, a racing heart, chest tightness, and intense fear. If the symptoms are severe and persistent, seek medical help.
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Unexplained hallucinations or delusions: Seeing or hearing things that aren’t there, or believing things that aren’t true, could be a sign of a serious mental illness like schizophrenia. Professional evaluation is required.
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Severe mental breakdown: Sudden loss of control, extreme fear, delusions, or hallucinations that pose a danger to oneself or others.
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Extreme mood swings: Sudden outbursts of anger, overwhelming sadness, or panic, often accompanied by violent tendencies, or posing a potential danger to oneself or others.
Other support options:
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Call 116 123 to speak with trained crisis intervention staff from Samaritans, or send an email to jo@samaritans.org for a response within 24 hours.
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Text "SHOUT" to 85258 to contact the crisis text line. If you're under 19, text "YM" instead.
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If you're under 19, you can also call 0800 1111 to speak with a counsellor from Childline.
02.
PSYWELL Safeguarding
Safeguarding is particularly crucial in counselling. It refers to ensuring that clients, especially vulnerable groups such as children, the elderly, or individuals with special needs, are protected from harm or abuse during the counselling process. Safeguarding primarily includes the following aspects:
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Protecting clients from any form of psychological or physical harm or abuse.
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Ensuring that clients’ personal information and privacy are strictly confidential during counselling. Our confidentiality practices adhere to the ethical standards of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and other relevant bodies. However, if the safety of the client or others is at risk, counsellors may be legally obliged to report certain information.
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Safeguarding is especially important for vulnerable groups such as children, the elderly, and people with disabilities, who are more susceptible to abuse or neglect. Counsellors pay particular attention to ensuring the safety and rights of these groups during the counselling process.
PSYWELL has established a comprehensive safeguarding policy to ensure that in cases of emergency or concerns involving abuse, children, or the elderly, there are clear reporting and recording procedures in place. All counsellors and staff have undergone rigorous training in confidentiality and safeguarding to ensure clients’ personal data, privacy, and physical and mental well-being are fully protected. Additionally, we maintain close collaboration with local authorities, the NHS, and Mental Crisis Teams across London, ensuring that we can promptly contact clients and ensure their safety in emergency situations.
03.
Other Support Resources
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Samaritans( focused on reducing self-harm, suicide, loneliness, and emotional crises.):https://www.samaritans.org/
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SHOUT(provideing support via text message):https://giveusashout.org/
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Papyrus (dedicated to the prevention of youth suicide):https://www.papyrus-uk.org/
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Age UK (offering assistance to the elderly):https://www.ageuk.org.uk/
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Cara-Friend LGBTQ+(providing help and advice to the LGBTQ+ community):https://cara-friend.org.uk/
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ChildLine(offering support and protection for children):https://www.childline.org.uk/