Find support, in your area or nationally

Many people have thoughts of suicide at some point, often when things feel unbearable or hopeless. These thoughts can pass, and you do not have to act on them. Help is available right now, and talking to someone is a strong first step.

If you might act on your thoughts or have already hurt yourself

Call 999 or go to your nearest A&E. You will not be wasting anyone's time.

If you need to talk now

• Call Samaritans free on 116 123, any time.
• Text SHOUT to 85258 if talking feels too hard.
• Call 111 and choose option 2 to reach your local NHS mental health crisis team. In Northamptonshire you can also call the Mental Health Number, 0800 448 0828.

Getting through the next few hours

• Tell someone you trust how you are feeling. That can be a friend, family member, tutor or our safeguarding team.
• Try to be around other people, or somewhere you feel safer.
• Put some distance between yourself and anything you could use to hurt yourself.
• Make a safety plan: a short list of warning signs, things that help, and people to contact. The Staying Safe website and the free Stay Alive app help you write one.

If you are worried about someone else

• Ask them directly if they are thinking about suicide. Asking does not put the idea in someone's head, and it often brings relief.
• Listen without judging and stay with them if they are in danger.
• Help them contact one of the services above. Do not promise to keep it secret.

Domestic abuse is not only physical violence. It includes being controlled, threatened, humiliated, cut off from friends and family, tracked, or having your money taken or controlled. It can come from a partner, ex-partner or family member. It is never your fault, and it is a crime.

Signs of coercive control

• Checking your phone, messages or where you go.
• Deciding who you can see, what you wear or whether you can work or study.
• Controlling all the money, or making you ask for money for basics.
• Threats to hurt you, your children or pets, or to share private images.
• Making you feel scared of how they will react.

Staying safe

• In danger, call 999. If you cannot speak, stay on the line and press 55 on a mobile.
• In many pharmacies you can ask for "ANI" (Action Needed Immediately). Staff will take you to a private room and help you contact the police or support services.
• Under Clare's Law you can ask the police whether a partner has a history of abuse. Call 101 or apply online.
• Keep important documents, some money and a spare phone charger somewhere safe, or with someone you trust.
• Use a device your partner cannot access to look for help, and use the "Leave this page" button if you need to.

Specialist support

The National Domestic Abuse Helpline (0808 2000 247, 24 hours) is run by women, for women. Local women's services, Black and minoritised women's organisations, and free legal advice from Rights of Women are listed in the directory. We can also move your sessions online or change your timetable so your attendance cannot be tracked.

Money problems can happen to anyone, and they are easier to fix the earlier you get advice. Sometimes money problems are caused by someone else: a partner, relative or "friend" who takes, controls or runs up debts in your name. That is financial or economic abuse.

Signs of financial abuse

• Someone takes your wages, benefits or pension, or makes you hand over your bank card or PIN.
• Loans, credit cards or phone contracts are taken out in your name without your agreement.
• You are stopped from working or studying, or have to account for every penny.
• Someone pressures you to sign documents or change a will.

What you can do

1. Tell our safeguarding team. We can help you make a plan and contact specialist support.
2. Call the Financial Support Line for victims of domestic abuse on 0808 196 8845. For an older person being financially abused, call Hourglass on 0808 808 8141.
3. Talk to your bank. Most banks have specialist teams for customers experiencing abuse and can help you open a safe account.
4. For debts, contact a free debt adviser such as StepChange or National Debtline. Never pay for debt advice.
5. If you cannot afford food or bills, the Help through Hardship helpline (0808 208 2138) can check your benefits, find grants and refer you to a food bank.

Stress, anxiety, low mood and trouble sleeping are common, especially when you are juggling learning with work, money or caring. You do not need to wait until you reach a crisis to get support.

• NHS Talking Therapies are free and you can refer yourself without seeing a GP. They help with anxiety, depression, stress and trauma. The numbers for your area are in "Health and wellbeing near you".
• Your GP practice can help, and its social prescriber can connect you with groups and activities.
• Local Mind charities run wellbeing centres, peer support and courses.
• At SPS, tell your tutor or our safeguarding team. We can make adjustments such as breaks, extra time or a quieter room.
• In a crisis, call 111 and choose option 2, or Samaritans on 116 123.

Modern slavery is when someone is forced, tricked or pressured into working or doing things they do not want to do, and cannot leave. It happens in car washes, nail bars, farms, factories, construction, care work, cleaning, delivery work and private homes, and includes forcing people to commit crimes.

Signs to look out for

• Someone else holds your passport, ID or bank card.
• You owe a debt for travel, housing or a job that keeps growing.
• Your pay goes to someone else, or is much less than you were promised.
• You live where you work, or are driven to and from work by the same person.
• You are threatened, or your family is threatened, if you leave or speak to anyone.

Getting help

• In danger, call 999.
• Call the Modern Slavery & Exploitation Helpline on 08000 121 700 (24 hours, interpreters available). You can report anonymously.
• The Salvation Army (0800 808 3733, 24 hours) supports adult victims in England with safe housing, legal advice and help to recover. You can get this support whatever your immigration status.
• Tell our safeguarding team. We will help you and keep you safe.

You are welcome at SPS. If you have come to the UK as a refugee or are seeking asylum, there is free help with housing, money, health, English and legal advice.

• Asylum support and accommodation: Migrant Help runs a free 24-hour helpline on 0808 8010 503, with interpreters, for problems with asylum housing, support payments or the Home Office.
• Legal advice: only take immigration advice from a qualified solicitor or an adviser regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority. Be wary of anyone who charges large fees or promises results. Local refugee charities can help you find free advice.
• Health: everyone can register with a GP for free, whatever your immigration status. Call 111 if you are unwell and not sure where to go.
• Community: local refugee charities and "City of Sanctuary" groups run drop-ins, English conversation clubs and help with forms.
• Exploitation: if someone is making you work for little or no pay or holding your documents, see the modern slavery guide above.

You can use the AI support guide in your own language, and most helplines can arrange an interpreter.

Racism is never your fault and you do not have to put up with it, at training, at work, in your home or online. The Equality Act 2010 protects you from being treated unfairly because of your race, which includes your colour, nationality, and ethnic or national origin.

What counts

• Discrimination: being treated worse because of your race, such as being refused a job, a service or a place on a course.
• Harassment: comments, "jokes", names or behaviour about race that upset, intimidate or humiliate you.
• Hate incidents and hate crime: anything someone does to you because of hostility to your race or religion, including online abuse, threats, damage to property or violence.

What you can do

1. If you are in danger, call 999.
2. Write down what happened as soon as you can: dates, times, what was said or done, and who saw it. Keep screenshots.
3. Tell our safeguarding team or your tutor. We take every report seriously, including things that happen on a work placement.
4. Report hate crime to the police on 101, online through True Vision, or through an organisation that can report for you.
5. If it is happening at work, Acas and Citizens Advice can explain your rights. Strict time limits apply to employment claims, so get advice quickly.

Online

• Never share passwords, bank details or one-time codes, even with someone who says they are from your bank or the police.
• Be wary of online "friends" or groups who ask you to keep secrets, send money or images, or who push extreme views. That is how grooming and radicalisation often start.
• If someone threatens to share intimate images of you, do not pay. Report it to the police and call the Revenge Porn Helpline on 0345 6000 459.

On a work placement or at work

• You should have a safe place to work, proper training and equipment, and breaks.
• No one at work should touch you without consent, make sexual comments, bully you or treat you unfairly because of who you are.
• If something worries you, tell your SPS tutor or our safeguarding team. We will act, and raising a concern will not cost you your placement.

Sexual harassment and assault

Unwanted sexual comments, messages, touching or pressure are never acceptable, whoever it comes from, including other learners. Tell us, and we will support you. You can also call the Rape Crisis 24/7 Support Line on 0808 500 2222.