NHS Talking Therapies waiting list: what to do while you wait

If you are in crisis or feel unsafe, please call 999 or go to A&E. For urgent mental health support, call NHS 111 and select the mental health option. Samaritans (116 123, free, 24/7) and Shout (text 85258) are always available.

Read this first

If you have referred yourself to NHS Talking Therapies and are now sitting in the gap between the referral and the first proper session, this guide is for you. The wait is one of the hardest parts of asking for help, and the time between deciding to do something and actually being seen can feel longer than it is. It is fair to want practical things to do in the meantime.

This is not a guide that tells you the wait is fine. For some people it is fine, for others it is too long. What this guide does is set out, honestly, what you can do while you wait, when the wait is reasonable to ride out, and when it is worth looking at other routes alongside it. The aim is to leave you with a clearer head, not more anxious.

The information here is drawn from the NHS, NICE, BACP and Mind.

Do not want to wait?

Wobble is on-demand mental health support from qualified UK therapists. Describe what is going on and get a personal video back with practical next steps, usually within hours. Your first session is free, no card required.

Try your first session free →

What the NHS Talking Therapies waiting list actually is

NHS Talking Therapies (formerly IAPT) is the main free NHS service in England for common mental health difficulties including anxiety, low mood, panic, OCD and PTSD. The NHS publishes a self-referral route at nhs.uk/talk, so you do not need to see your GP first. After referral you are usually given a short telephone assessment, then placed on a waiting list for whichever treatment fits what you have described. Cognitive behavioural therapy is the most common option, because NICE recommends CBT as an evidence-backed treatment for several of the difficulties the service is built around.

Waits vary widely. Some services see people within a few weeks for guided self-help. Waits for higher-intensity therapy like one-to-one CBT can be much longer, and they depend heavily on where you live. The NHS itself is open about variation between local services. The waiting list is not a single national queue, it is a different queue in every local area.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland do not run NHS Talking Therapies under the same name. The equivalent services are usually accessed via your GP, and the waiting situation varies in similar ways.

What the gap usually feels like

It is worth naming that the wait itself can be hard. People often feel a brief lift after the assessment call (something is happening) and then a dip a few weeks later when nothing has visibly happened since. That is normal. It is not a sign the service has forgotten you, and it is not a sign you are getting worse. It is the cost of how the system is built.

A few things tend to make the wait harder than it needs to be.

Checking in on the referral every few days. Once you have done it, the system has it. Repeated checking tends to feed anxiety more than it speeds anything up.

Reading widely about your symptoms online. NHS, NICE and Mind pages are fine. The wider internet is not.

Pinning everything to the first session, as if recovery starts only when therapy starts. The work that helps you most starts now, in small ways, while you wait.

What you can do while you wait

These are the things the NHS, Mind and Anxiety UK actively encourage for the period between referral and treatment. None of them replace therapy. All of them tend to make therapy more useful when it does start.

Use NHS self-help resources. The NHS publishes self-help pages for anxiety, panic, low mood, stress and sleep, plus the Every Mind Matters hub at nhs.uk/every-mind-matters. These are written for people in exactly the position of waiting for or considering further support. They are not a substitute, but they are a sensible structured way to spend the gap.

Lean on charity helplines. Samaritans (116 123, free, 24/7) and Shout (text 85258) are the two main UK options. Mind, Anxiety UK and Rethink Mental Illness all run their own information lines and signposting services as well. These are not full courses of therapy, but they are real people, and they are designed to take the weight off your shoulders for a difficult evening.

Move the basics. The NHS recommends regular physical activity, reducing caffeine, going easy on alcohol and protecting sleep as part of its anxiety and low mood self-help. None of those cure anything. All of them shrink the load your nervous system is carrying while you wait.

Write things down. Mind and the NHS both describe writing worries down as a way of acknowledging them without solving them tonight. It also gives you something useful to bring to the first session. Most assessors and therapists welcome notes.

Talk to someone you trust. A friend, partner, family member, or GP. The aim is not to be fixed. It is to stop carrying the whole thing alone.

For a wider set of self-help approaches in the meantime, see anxiety self-help.

When the wait is not the right plan

For some people, the wait is reasonable. The difficulty is steady but manageable, self-help is doing some of the work, and starting therapy in a few months is fine. For others, it is too long. The NHS encourages people not to wait at home if things are getting worse.

Reach out to your GP, NHS 111 or a helpline sooner rather than later if any of the following apply.

• The feeling has been there most days for several weeks and is getting worse
• You are struggling to function at work, in your relationships, or with daily basics
• You are using alcohol or other substances to take the edge off
• You are feeling low, hopeless, or having thoughts of harming yourself
• Self-help has not shifted anything at all

You do not need to be at rock bottom. If it is affecting your life, that is enough.

NHS 111 has a mental health option available 24/7. If you are in crisis or unsafe, 999 or A&E is the right call.

Want a personal response while you wait?

Wobble connects you to a qualified UK therapist for practical support without the commitment of a full course of therapy. Describe what is happening, get a personal video back in hours. First session free.

Get my free session →

Alternatives worth knowing about

You are allowed to stay on the NHS waiting list and also do something else. The two are not mutually exclusive. A few options that sit alongside.

Private therapy. Anyone offering therapy privately in the UK should be registered with one of the main professional bodies: BACP, UKCP, BABCP, BPS or NCS. You can search by location and specialism on BACP (bacp.co.uk) and Counselling Directory (counselling-directory.org.uk). Sessions are typically 50 minutes, weekly to start. Costs vary widely by therapist, location and modality, and there is more on what to expect in how much is private therapy in the UK. The trade-off is cost. The benefit is starting sooner with a regulated professional.

Charity-led counselling. Some charities offer free or low-cost counselling for specific groups (bereavement, anxiety, men's mental health, students, veterans). Mind has local branches that offer counselling in many parts of the country. Anxiety UK runs a low-cost therapy service for members. These are worth a look before assuming private fees are the only option.

On-demand support. Services like Wobble offer single, qualified conversations without the commitment of a course. You describe what is going on in writing or voice and get a personal video back from a qualified UK therapist, usually within hours. For people who do not want to commit to weekly sessions while they wait for the NHS, it is a lower-friction way to be heard by someone qualified.

Workplace and student support. Many employers offer an Employee Assistance Programme with free short-term counselling. Universities and colleges usually have their own counselling services. Worth checking what you already have access to.

For a fuller breakdown of the main UK routes to talking to a therapist, see I need to talk to a therapist.

What you can ask of the service

A few things are reasonable to know.

You can ask your local NHS Talking Therapies service for a rough idea of how long the wait is likely to be at your level of need. They will not always give a precise figure, but they can usually tell you whether it is weeks or months.

You can ask to be contacted if a sooner slot becomes available.

You can let them know if your situation gets worse while you are waiting. They may be able to escalate the assessment or signpost you to more urgent support.

If you are offered a treatment that does not feel right, you can ask about other options. NICE recognises a range of evidence-backed approaches for common difficulties, and CBT is not the only one.

After the wait ends

Once treatment starts, the work that you have done in the meantime tends to count. Self-help, journaling, lifestyle changes, conversations with a GP or helpline, none of it is wasted. Most therapists are pleased when someone arrives with a sense of what has been tried and what has helped. It speeds up the early sessions.

Quick summary

The NHS Talking Therapies waiting list is one of the hardest parts of asking for help, and it varies widely depending on where you live. While you wait, NHS self-help, charity helplines, the basics (sleep, movement, less caffeine, less alcohol), writing things down and talking to someone you trust all help. If things are getting worse, your GP, NHS 111 or one of the helplines is the proper next step. You are allowed to stay on the list and look at private therapy, charity counselling or on-demand support like Wobble alongside it. The wait is not the only thing happening, and the work that helps you most starts now.

Try Wobble for free

On-demand mental health support from qualified UK therapists. Personal video responses, usually within hours. First session free, then from £7.99.

Start my free session →

Sources and further reading

• NHS: Talking therapies, medicine and psychiatry (nhs.uk)
• NHS Talking Therapies self-referral (England): nhs.uk/talk
• NHS: Anxiety, fear and panic (nhs.uk)
• NHS: Every Mind Matters (nhs.uk/every-mind-matters)
• NICE guidance on common mental health problems (nice.org.uk)
• BACP: bacp.co.uk
• UKCP: psychotherapy.org.uk
• BABCP: babcp.com
• BPS: bps.org.uk
• NCS: nationalcounsellingsociety.org
• Counselling Directory: counselling-directory.org.uk
• Mind: Talking therapy and counselling (mind.org.uk)
• Anxiety UK (anxietyuk.org.uk)
• Rethink Mental Illness (rethink.org)
• Samaritans: 116 123 (samaritans.org)
• Shout: text 85258 (giveusashout.org)

This article is for information only and does not replace advice from a qualified medical professional. If you are struggling with your mental health or it is affecting your daily life, please speak to your GP or contact NHS 111. If you are in crisis, please call 999 or go to A&E.