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It could be that my ‘crisis’ is that I am at an extremely important time in my life deciding how I want to change – a ‘crossroads’ so to speak where a client needs to address personal change. This meaning of ‘crisis’ here would not endanger life, be that your own or anyone else around you and would not involve dangerous behaviours either (impulsivity from alcohol or drugs for example). The thought here might be ‘would I be missed by those around me’ and this is a normal emotional response to life distress, a normal emotional thought– but note it is not ‘actively’ anything more than this. Counselling is extremely helpful in these circumstances and can be safely undertaken at your pace to understand this.

However, the other definition of crisis is when a client feels extremely vulnerable and suicidal thinking and dangerous self-harm is highly active right now. We might think of this as not just emotionality but a real intentionality to endanger life, even if this may be linked to impulsivity (e.g. fuelled by substances such as alcohol or drugs). In these circumstances it is crucial that you seek other support first to ground yourself for any further counselling you may be looking for. Such medical care is always your responsibility along with your GP. Other ways of obtaining ‘emergency support’ are listed in the blue text area on this page.