Mother and baby community services
Help in a crisis
Visit our Access Mental Health page to find a range of phone, online and in-person support if you are in, or approaching, a mental health crisis.
Give us a Shout: text 85258 for a free, confidential, anonymous text support service. You can text from wherever you are in the UK. If you are struggling to cope and need to talk, trained shout volunteers are available for you, day or night.
If you are desperate to talk to someone, the Samaritans can help. It can offer emotional support and a listening ear 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Call them on 116 123 (24 hours) - a freephone number that can even be called from a mobile that has no credit. Your call will not appear on the phone bill. There are also local Samaritans branches across Dorset. You can also email jo
Worried about someone else?
If you are having concerns that someone else is very distressed and might be considering suicide please encourage them to contact their GP and make an urgent appointment. Alternatively you may wish them to speak to the Samaritans on 116 123.
If you are worried someone is about to hurt someone else please contact the police via 999.
Other support
If you are not in a crisis, the first step to take to get help with your mental health is to call your GP or other allocated health professional (e.g. community psychiatric nurse or community mental health team, midwife or health visitor). You will be able to make an emergency appointment to see your doctor, or speak to them on the phone.
Steps to Wellbeing is a free, confidential NHS service for anyone aged 18+ who is registered at a GP surgery in Dorset. It offers a wide range of different types of treatment for people experiencing problems with low mood/depression, anxiety or stress. Refer yourself to the service.
Please note we do not check or monitor these services. Follow the links to the website first to check full services are offered.
A mental health charity that provides advice and support to empower anyone experincing a mental health problem.
Provides information, support and understanding via an extensive range of services, including 1:1 therapy. The charity is run by people with lived experience of anxiety, stress or anxiety-based depression. Opening hours: 9.30am to 5.30pm Monday to Friday, 10am-8pm.
Telephone: 03444 775774, text: 07537 416905.
A totally voluntary charity, whose aims are to aid the relief and rehabilitation of those people suffering from panic attacks, phobias, obsessive compulsive disorders, related anxiety disorders, including tranquilliser withdrawal, and to provide support to sufferers and their families.
Helpline: 0844 9674848, available every day, 10am-10pm.
Crisis number: 01952 680835. This is a recorded message available 24 hours.
LBGTQ+ information
Learning disabilities mental health support- Steps to Wellbeing
Action on Postpartum Psychosis (APP)
APP is a national charity for women and families affected by postpartum psychosis.
Email: app
Association of postnatal Illness
Helpline: 10am-2pm – 0207 3860868
Email: info
Birth trauma is an organisation that offers information, guidance and support to parents that have experienced birth trauma.
Free NHS-accredited Baby Buddy app offering evidence-based information and self-care tools to help parents during pregnancy and early stages of parenting.
App users also have access to a confidential, text-based Crisis Messenger which provides 24/7 support for new and expectant parents who are feeling extremely anxious or overwhelmed.
Black and ethnic minorities mental health support - Rethink and Steps to Wellbeing
Peer led support available, email info
Netmums offer peer support via their Maternal Mental Health Drop-In Clinic.
PANDAS A UK charity who provide support service for families and their networks who may be suffering with perinatal mental illness, including prenatal (antenatal) and postnatal depression.
Helpline, open 7 days a week – 0808 1961776
Email support available – info
Dads Matter This is a free service that provides support for dads worried about or suffering from depression, anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Support for Fathers -DadPad-
Support for males struggling with mental health - it takes balls to talk
Respect (men’s advice line) 0808 8010327 (Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm)
Provides expert, accredited advice and information to everyone affected by mental health problems. They give clear, relevant information on everything from treatment and care to benefits and employment rights.
Twinline is Twins Trust’s listening service for parents of twins, triplets and more. All the calls are answered by volunteers who have multiples themselves.
Twinline is open Monday to Friday 10am-1pm and from 7010pm. 0800 1380509, alternatively email asktwinline
Tommy’s has a team of in-house midwives who offer free support and information for women and their families at any stage of pregnancy and after the birth.
Helpline: Tommy’s helpline has been closed temporarily but their midwives are answering questions via email, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Email: midwife
PTSD: A UK charity dedicated to provide support and information for anyone experiencing PTSD.
Beat is the UK’s eating disorder charity. Helpline: 0808 8010677. Email support:help
A UK based charity offering mental health support to everyone with all types of mental health problems.
Opening Hours: 5pm-12midnight, daily. Call: 0800 58 58 58
This phone line is a useful source of information for types of mental health problems, where to get help; medication and alternative treatments; and advocacy. Opening hours: 9am-6pm, Monday to Friday (except for bank holidays). Call: 0300 1233393, Text: 86463.
Self-injury/self-harm support for women and girls – helpline, information and training. Telephone, email and text support, leaflets, publications and training.
SANE is a leading UK mental health charity improving quality of life for anyone affected by mental illness – including family friends and carers. Opening hours: 4.30-10.30pm, daily. Call: 0300 304700.