Where help actually lives
Every door from the hour, on one page. Keep it. Send it to the colleague who needs it at 2 am. Every door here is also for you — not only for the person you are walking in.
Right now, tonight
If there is intent, a plan, access to means, or you cannot be confident someone is safe tonight — do not scroll further. Go to the nearest hospital emergency department, or call the national emergency number. Do not go alone, and do not leave them alone.
Tele MANAS
You pick the language; a trained counsellor answers. No referral, no paperwork, no name required. They listen, then guide the next step, including escalation to a professional when needed.
This is a support line, not an emergency service. If someone is in immediate danger tonight, use 112 or the nearest emergency department instead.
It sits entirely outside your workplace. Not your employer, not HR, not your insurer.
Ongoing care
A psychiatrist or a clinical psychologist, privately — an appointment, not a crisis. Government hospital psychiatry OPDs also see adults for very little; register like any other OPD, no referral needed.
If your workplace has an employee assistance programme or covered counselling, it is worth using — and worth asking first what is shared with your employer and what is not, so you are deciding with the full picture.
If it is your colleague
- Ask, using the word: “Are you thinking about suicide?” Asking does not plant the idea. For many people, being asked is a relief.
- Listen, do not fix: the whole answer, without solving it — and do not promise secrecy. Secrecy is not kindness here.
- Work out whether tonight is safe: intent, a plan, access to means, or they cannot tell you they will be safe? Then stay with them, and use 112 or the nearest emergency department.
- Either way, do not stop there: if there is no immediate danger it still does not end at “take care”. Involve one other person, and arrange an appointment within a day or two.
If you are thinking about cutting down
- Alcohol is the one that needs a doctor: heavy regular drinking can require medically supervised withdrawal. Drinking to stop shaking, a past withdrawal seizure, or blackouts warrant prompt medical assessment — not a plan you make alone.
- Support beats willpower: for tobacco and nicotine, behavioural support and cessation medication each improve the odds, and they do better together than either alone.
- Plan for the first week: irritability, poor sleep, low mood and appetite change are expected, time-limited, and usually worst early. They are not evidence that it is not working.
- Replace the function, not just the habit: whatever it was doing — winding down, ending the day, making a room bearable — still needs doing.
Where you sit on any of this is an individual question, and none of it replaces an assessment.
Asking for help is a skill,
not a failure.
This page accompanies the session From Campus to Career — mental health, substances, relationships and staying functional when work has no timetable.
Dr. Shaurya Garg · Consultant Psychiatrist, Annova Health, inside The Face Centre, Lajpat Nagar · MD Psychiatry, AIIMS New Delhi.
If typing is easier than talking: Instagram: @dr.shaurya.garg (DMs open). More at drshauryagarg.com. Read the privacy notice.
This page is general information, not medical advice, and reading it does not create a doctor–patient relationship. In an emergency, use the numbers above, do not wait. Helpline numbers verified August 2026.