distrACT (UK)
distrACT is a free self-care app for people who self-harm or feel suicidal – clinically reviewed, available offline, and needing no account or sign-up.
If you work in NHS mental health services, higher education, or a mental health charity, it gives you something reliable to offer people at the moments your teams can't be there.
This means calm, trusted guidance stays in someone's pocket at 3am, on a waiting list, or after a crisis contact – and your service is the one that put it there.
distrACT is free to download from the Apple App Store and Google Play.
The gap between appointments
Demand for mental health support keeps rising while capacity doesn't. For people who self-harm or feel suicidal, that gap is felt most acutely between contacts – late at night, during a wait for an appointment, or after discharge from a crisis service.
Leaflets and websites rarely help then. Concentration is low, and finding reliable information takes more effort than someone in distress can easily give.
Is this you?
distrACT is built for NHS mental health teams, university and college wellbeing services, and mental health charities. Three problems you'll recognise:
- People wait weeks with nothing in between – your team can't hold everyone on the list, and those weeks matter.
- Your resources don't travel – leaflets get lost, and websites are hard to use when someone is struggling.
- A&E becomes the default – people reach emergency services because they don't know where else to turn.
All of it costs something – in risk carried, in staff worry, and in emergency contacts that earlier support might have prevented.
What you're giving people
Clear, calm support – whenever and wherever it's needed. Put the app in people's pockets and you can:
- Help them understand what they're feeling – plain-English explanations, without jargon.
- Give them something to try right now – grounding, distraction, and calming techniques for difficult moments.
- Point them to the right support – reputable services, helplines, and charities.
- Show them what to do in a crisis – clear, calm next steps when urgent help is needed.
Designed for low concentration and high distress: short sections, plain language, and nothing to sign up for.
distrACT is not a replacement for clinical care. It sits alongside your services – reinforcing your messages and supporting people between appointments or after crisis contact.
Make a difference – without straining budgets or teams
Four priorities it supports:
- Support people who are waiting – something reliable between referral and first appointment.
- Extend your reach beyond opening hours – available at 3am, offline, wherever someone is.
- Reduce avoidable emergency contacts – calm guidance before A&E feels like the only option.
- Ease pressure on your team – one trusted resource to recommend, rather than improvising.
Free for people and organisations. No contracts, no set-up, no personal data collected.
Built to the standards you'd expect
Co-created with people who have lived experience of self-harm, mental health clinicians, and specialist charities including Self-Injury Support, University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust, and Bristol Health Partners.
- PIF TICK accredited
- ORCHA assessed
- NHS DTAC compliant
- Winner, BMA Patient Information Award for Wellbeing
Downloaded by over 100,000 people across the UK and beyond.
"A safe alternative to put in people's hands." – Dr Dominique Thompson, Student Mental Health Expert and GP
"A must if you are concerned about self-harm or feeling suicidal and don't know what to do next." – App user
More on how we develop and quality-assure our content.
Make it local.
Add a branded homepage and a directory of your regional services, care pathways, and local helplines – making trusted support feel local and connected to what your teams already offer.
Ready to talk?
If you'd like to explore how distrACT could support your community and give your teams some breathing space, let's spend 20 minutes on it.
If you're struggling right now, you can call Samaritans free on 116 123, any time.