Friday 15th July 2022
At OCD Action, our highest priority is ensuring everybody we support and work with is safe and well.
Today, the Met Office released a Red Extreme heat warning for Monday and Tuesday next week in many parts of England where our volunteers and staff are based. The Met Office suggest that the implications of such heat levels could be population-wide adverse health effects, and that to prevent this from happening, substantial changes should be made to working practices.
Our services rely on our dedicated volunteers who have extremely busy and pressured lives with various work, family and caring responsibilities, so to ensure everyone’s wellbeing, we have taken the difficult decision to temporarily suspend our services on Monday 18th and Tuesday 19th July.
Scheduled support groups on these dates will not be running. Please do continue to leave voicemails and send emails to our Helplines – we might take slightly longer to respond, but we will be in touch with everyone who leaves a message or email as soon as we can. Our Forum will remain open during this time and information about OCD and related conditions can be found here.
This has been a difficult decision; however, we strongly believe that it is vital to look after the health of our team in these extreme heat conditions. We know volunteer and staff wellbeing is key to ensuring we can provide excellent support for the OCD community on an ongoing basis.
All of our services will run as usual from Wednesday 20th July.
If during this short period you need emergency support, remember that there is help available. Please see information on where you can find support below.
Support for all ages
- If you are in need of urgent crisis help, you can call 999 or visit your nearest A&E.
- If you would like to speak to somebody about suicidal thoughts and feelings, you can call Samaritans for free, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on 116 123.
Support for young people
- If you are under 18, you can call Childline on 0800 1111 or speak to someone online.
- If you are under 25 and would like to speak to somebody about suicidal thoughts and feelings, you can contact The Mix by texting THEMIX to 85258.