Mental Health & Your Recovery
Your mental health and your physical recovery are closely linked. Supporting people’s mental wellbeing sits outside what we do as physiotherapists, but it matters to us — so this page is a bit of plain, honest information and a list of good places to turn, from free support to the NHS and private options.
If you need help now
If you or someone else is in immediate danger, or you feel you might act on thoughts of harming yourself, please get help straight away — you deserve support and it is always okay to ask for it.
- Call 999 or go to your nearest A&E if life is at risk right now.
- NHS 111 — call 111 and select the mental health option for urgent help, day or night. This is the local crisis route for Liverpool (Mersey Care).
- Samaritans — call 116 123 free, any time, day or night (or email jo@samaritans.org).
- Shout — text SHOUT to 85258 for free, 24/7 text support.
- CALM — 0800 58 58 58 (5pm–midnight), and PAPYRUS HOPELINE for under-35s — 0800 068 4141.
Recovery is physical and mental
When you are in pain, or stuck with an injury that will not settle, it is completely normal for your mood, sleep and stress levels to take a hit — and the other way round too. Low mood, anxiety and poor sleep can make pain feel worse and recovery feel slower. None of that is a weakness or “in your head”; it is how people are built. We are physiotherapists, not mental health professionals, so this is not our area to treat — but we would rather point you to the right help than pretend the two are separate.
The mind and body pull on the same rope
There are a few well-recognised ways that how you feel affects how you heal:
Pain feels louder
Stress, anxiety and low mood turn up the volume on pain. The same injury can hurt more on a bad week — that is real, not imagined, and it tends to ease as things settle.
Sleep and energy dip
Worry and low mood wreck sleep, and poor sleep slows tissue healing, saps energy for rehab and lowers your tolerance to load. Protecting sleep is one of the most useful things you can do.
Motivation and avoidance
When you are flat or frightened of hurting yourself, it is harder to keep up exercises and easy to avoid movement — which can quietly stall recovery. Small, kind, consistent steps beat all-or-nothing.
It is common, and it lifts
Feeling low or anxious during a long recovery is extremely common. With the right support it gets better — and getting help early tends to make everything, including the physical side, go more smoothly.
Signs it is worth reaching out
Please consider speaking to your GP or using one of the services below if, for more than a couple of weeks, you notice things like:
Reaching out is a sign of strength, not failure. You do not need to be “bad enough” to deserve support, and you do not have to have it all worked out before you make contact — the services below are used to being the first call.
Where to turn — free, NHS and private
A starting point rather than a complete list. All of these are independent of The Treatment Table.
NHS & free support
- NHS Talking Therapies — free NHS help for anxiety & depression, self-referral in England
- Talking Therapies Liverpool — self-refer online or call 0151 228 2300 (16+, Liverpool GP)
- Your GP — a good first step for mood, anxiety or sleep
- Every Mind Matters (NHS) — free self-help tips and a mind plan
Free listening & crisis
- Samaritans — 116 123, free, 24/7
- Shout — text SHOUT to 85258, free, 24/7
- CALM — 0800 58 58 58 & webchat
- PAPYRUS HOPELINE — 0800 068 4141 (under 35s)
Information & private options
- Mind — information & support, infoline 0300 123 3393
- Hub of Hope — find local support by postcode
- BACP — find a qualified private therapist
- Counselling Directory — search private counsellors near you