If you need help now

Emergency

If someone is in immediate physical danger, call your local emergency number.

• 999Emergency servicesUnited Kingdom, Ireland
• 911Emergency servicesUnited States, Canada
• 112Emergency servicesEuropean Union and many other countries
• 000Emergency servicesAustralia

If you are thinking about ending your life

• 988988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — call or textUnited States, Canada · 24 hoursIn Canada the same number reaches the 9-8-8 Suicide Crisis Helpline.
• 116 123SamaritansUnited Kingdom, Ireland · 24 hours, free
• 13 11 14LifelineAustralia · 24 hours
• 116 123Emotional support lineMany European countries
• findahelpline.comVerified lines by countryAnywhere else

You do not have to be in immediate danger to call any of these. Not knowing whether you count is a normal reason to call.

If someone is hurting or controlling you

• 0808 2000 247National Domestic Abuse HelplineEngland · 24 hours, free
• 0800 027 1234Scotland's Domestic Abuse and Forced Marriage HelplineScotland · 24 hours
• 0808 80 10 800Live Fear FreeWales · 24 hours
• 0808 802 1414Domestic and Sexual Abuse HelplineNorthern Ireland · 24 hours
• 1800 341 900Women's Aid National Freephone HelplineIreland · 24 hours, free
• 1-800-799-7233National Domestic Violence HotlineUnited States · 24 hours
• 1800 737 7321800RESPECTAustralia · 24 hours
• findahelpline.comDirectory, filtered for abuseAnywhere else

These services do risk assessment, which is a real skill and not something a website can do. Talking to one commits you to nothing, including to talking to them again, and it does not require you to have decided anything.

If someone has died

• The lines aboveMost of them will talk to you — they are not only for emergenciesEverywhere
• findahelpline.comBereavement filterAnywhere
• Local hospice or palliative serviceMost offer bereavement support to anyone, not only to families of their own patientsMost countries

If someone might see this screen

• A private or incognito window can keep this page out of the history on this device. That is all it does.
• It does not hide what you do from software installed on the device, from the network you are on, from an employer or a school, or from the logs kept by an account you are signed in to. If the device or the account is shared, assume the record is shared too.
• A device that is not yours — a library computer, a friend’s phone — is usually safer than any setting on a device someone else can reach.
• Phone calls appear on bills. Text and web chat frequently do not.
• Most domestic-abuse services have a page about covering your tracks online. It is worth ten minutes and it is more thorough than anything we would write here.