Here for someone

Bipolar · Professional support

Help them get support for bipolar

Use the service that already knows them when possible. Otherwise choose between a routine appointment and urgent help.

Choose the route by urgencyIf they already have a mental-health team, start there. For a non-urgent concern, help them contact a GP. The urgent options and who can call are explained below.

An adult usually needs to agree to assessment and treatment. You can encourage them and offer practical help, but usually cannot make them accept it. If they refuse, you can still tell their GP or team what you have noticed and ask for advice. Read what you can do if they refuse help and how consent works. If help cannot wait, seek urgent advice without waiting for their agreement.

If you think they may be experiencing mania or severe depression, seek an urgent specialist mental-health assessment. Contact their team, ask for an urgent GP appointment, or use urgent mental-health help. Do not wait for agreement about a diagnosis. Call 999 if there is immediate danger.[1]

Are they under 18? This page focuses on supporting an adult. Start with support for children and teenagers. If you are under 18 and supporting someone else, see young-carer rights and support.

Choose the route

Their existing mental-health team

Use the care coordinator, community team or crisis contact in their care plan. Tell them what has changed and how quickly.

Their GP

A GP can assess what is happening, consider other causes and refer to mental-health services where appropriate.

Urgent mental-health help

You do not need to know their GP. In England, call 111 and select the mental-health option. A concerned friend or family member can call on someone else's behalf. Routes differ across the UK, so use the site's urgent page to find the correct national service.[2]

Prepare the useful information

  1. Say what has changed. Include sleep, speech, activity, spending, mood, unusual beliefs and day-to-day functioning where relevant.
  2. Say when it started. Explain whether the change is steady, sudden or becoming more intense.
  3. Name immediate risks. Mention suicidal thoughts, self-harm, threats, unsafe driving, going missing or an inability to meet basic needs.
  4. Include what they have agreed. Bring their crisis plan, care-plan contacts and any preferences they have written down.

These notes describe observations. They do not require you to diagnose the episode yourself.[3]

How you can help with an appointment

Ask what role they want you to have. Bipolar UK suggests practical help such as transport, collecting prescriptions or attending appointments if the person would like you there.

You could help make the appointment, prepare notes, wait outside or attend and describe agreed observations. Let the person speak for themselves where they can.[4]

Medication questions belong with a professional

Do not change, stop or restart someone's medication for them. For side effects, missed doses, interactions or questions about lithium, contact the prescriber, mental-health team or pharmacist. If help cannot wait, use the urgent route for their UK nation or emergency services as directed by the official medicine information.

NHS lithium informationNICE bipolar guideline

[5]

Related help
Things are escalatingPlan ahead togetherSupport for you
Sources and how this guide was written

  1. Opening advice

    NICE CG185: when urgent specialist assessment is needed (recommendation 1.2.2).

    Back to the advice

  2. Urgent mental-health help

    NHS bipolar information, NHS urgent help and Bipolar UK support information.

    Back to the advice

  3. Prepare the useful information

    Mind and Bipolar UK recommend learning warning signs and planning support together. NHS sets out the urgent and emergency thresholds.

    Back to the advice

  4. How you can help with an appointment

    Bipolar UK: practical ways to support someone.

    Back to the advice

  5. Medication questions belong with a professional

    NHS medicine guidance and NICE guideline CG185.

    Back to the advice

Last full source check: 26 August 2026

Consent and seeking advice wording checked: 7 October 2026. Sources and explanation.

Later checks: Help-route wording checked: 1 October 2026.

Independent information, not a medical or crisis service. This guidance has not been clinically reviewed. How we use sources.

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