OCD Youth

Helpline

Our e-Helpline is an listening and support service for under 25s.

The OCD Youth e-Helpline is a confidential and unbiased service offering help, information and support for young people under 25 who have OCD(or think they might have). It is currently operated via email.

When is it available?

You can email us any time, and we will aim to get back to you withing 3 days.

If you need urgent support, please contact Samaritans or Childline

Who answers your email?

Most of our e-helpline volunteers are people with personal experience of OCD who now feel strong enough to provide help and support to others. All of our volunteers fully understand OCD, its impact and what you are going through. e-Helpline volunteers undertake two days of formal training followed by a lengthy period of on-the-job observing and supervised call-making.

What can I expect?

You do not have to give your real name if you do not want to. We can listen supportively to you, tell you about the clinically effective treatment choices available through the NHS and how to access those treatments. We can also send free information packs and leaflets to you (all of our materials are sent under plain cover) – we will need your name and address to do this.

What the e-Helpline doesn’t do

We cannot give a diagnosis over email – this must be done by your GP or a trained mental health professional in person.

We cannot recommend specific treatments, medications etc for you over email – this must be done by your mental health professional.

We cannot contact a family member/friend without them having contacted us.

Confidentiality

Our e-helpline is a confidential service and we do not share the details of your call with any other person outside of the organisation.

In extreme circumstances, where there is a real and present threat of harm to a caller or another individual/s, we will break confidentiality. The charity has been running helpline services for over 10 years and to date, we have never needed to do this.

We do allow other e-helpline volunteers, staff or volunteers undergoing helpline training to look at emails from time-to-time. This is to help maintain the quality of our service and make sure that new volunteers are fully prepared.

For more information about our service, you can access the following documents:

e-Helpline Service Remit
e-Helpline Confidentiality Policy

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