Your Mental Health Information Line

The Your Mental Health information line, which commenced operating on a phased basis in October, provides signposting  to mental health supports and services. Operating 24/7, the Freephone service provides information on how to access services provided by the HSE and funded partners across the country. Calls are strictly confidential; call takers do not ask callers for any personal information.

The recent launch is the culmination of significant work over the past two years resulting in a team now being in place to take calls from the public on a 24/7 basis, all under one centralised telephone number. This dedicated service will connect callers with a team member who will provide information about the supports and services available both nationally and in their area. The Your Mental Health telephone service is another great example of how we can continue to improve and simplify accessibility to mental health supports and services through technology.”

HSE Mental Health and the National Ambulance Service will work in partnership to facilitate the Your Mental Health Information Line service. The team of call takers are based in the National Ambulance Service Headquarters. The team has received the standard training for emergency call takers within the National Ambulance Service as well as additional training from HSE Mental Health and the National Office of Suicide Prevention which included information on SafeTALK, ASIST, Understanding Self-Harm, and Bereavement initiatives to assist them in delivering an effective information service and to signpost callers to appropriate services.

Welcoming the announcement, Martin Dunne, Director of the National Ambulance Service, said: “We are delighted to be playing a proactive part in this important service, in partnership with our Mental Health services colleagues, working together to ensure that this initiative adds value to service users. This telephone service is a welcome addition to the National Ambulance Services’ ability to assist the public, and we are delighted it is now live and freely available to those who need it.”

National Director, Community Operations, David Walsh, emphasised the importance of the new service, saying: “This new service will complement our existing suite of mental health services, by ensuring they are as accessible as possible to the people who need them. This is part of a number of digital mental health initiatives that we’ve been developing over the past year. We have already seen a huge increase in traffic to our website; YourMentalHealth.ie since it was redeveloped last year and we have a number of other digital innovations in development including text based support and counselling online. The information line is now another way people can find out what services are available to them, particularly in their local area.”

For more information visit YourMentalHealth.ie