If you need help right now
If you or someone else is in immediate danger, go to the nearest hospital emergency department. Do not wait for us to open.
Go to an emergency department
A hospital emergency department is open through the night and does not need an appointment.
These four in Karachi run emergency departments that are open 24 hours a day, every day:
- South City Hospital — Clifton Block 3, on Shahrah-e-Firdousi.
- National Medical Centre — DHA Phase 1, near Kala Pul.
- The Aga Khan University Hospital — Stadium Road.
- Liaquat National Hospital — Stadium Road.
If you are anywhere else in Karachi, or outside it, go to the emergency department nearest you. It does not have to be one of these.
If you cannot get there yourself
Ask someone to take you. If there is nobody, call an ambulance. These three run in Karachi:
- 1122 — Sindh Emergency Rescue Service. Medical, fire and rescue, 24 hours.
- 115 — Edhi Foundation ambulance.
- 1020 — Chhipa Welfare ambulance.
Three are listed rather than one on purpose. If the first does not answer, dial the next.
15 is the police, not an ambulance. Call it if you need the police. Nothing official says it sends an ambulance, so for an ambulance use one of the three above.
We do not list a mental-health helpline here, and that is deliberate. There is no crisis line in Pakistan we have been able to confirm is answered — the best known one has been shut down while the web still says it is running. A number that rings out, or that turns out to be a different service altogether, is worse than no number at all. An emergency department is open now, and an ambulance will take you to one.
Tell someone who is with you
If there is anyone in the flat, the house or the room — tell them now, before you finish reading this.
It does not have to be the right words and they do not have to know what to say. "I am not safe" is enough. "Please stay with me" is enough. So is handing them this page.
If nobody is with you, call the person you would call last. A brother, a cousin, a neighbour, the friend you have not spoken to since April. Being alone is the part of tonight to change first.
Until we open
There are hours in the night when a hospital can help you and we cannot. These are for the hours in between.
- Stay where there are other people, even if you are not talking to them.
- If there is something in the room you could hurt yourself with, ask the person with you to hold it, or put it somewhere that is not where you are.
- You do not have to decide anything tonight. Getting to the morning is the whole task.
- Write down what you want to tell us, so that at 10am you do not have to find the words.
An emergency department does not close and does not mind the hour. If tonight gets worse instead of better, go.
What PHC is, and when we are here
The Psychological Help Centre is a psychology clinic. We work by appointment, in clinic in PECHS and DHA and online, and we are open Monday to Saturday, 10am to 8pm PKT.
We are not an emergency service and we are not open at night. That is a fact about our opening hours, not about whether you should come to us — and it is why a hospital is the first thing on this page and not the last.
When we are open, a real person answers. Outside those hours, a message sits unread until we open.
How to reach us
- WhatsApp us — the fastest route, and you do not have to explain everything in the first message.
- Call 0333 3736938 — one number, both clinics
- Email [email protected]
If it is a crisis, PHC have asked us to give you this number: 0333 078 6380. It is Prof. Dr. Tahira Yousaf's own phone, not a clinic line and not a staffed helpline — you would be calling one person directly. She may not be able to answer, and there is nobody behind it if she cannot. If you or someone else is in immediate danger, an emergency department is still the first thing on this page, and it is still the right one.
Say that it is urgent. We will tell you plainly whether we are the right people, and refer you elsewhere if we are not.
What happens then
A message reaches us as an enquiry, not a confirmed appointment. Someone calls or messages you back to arrange the slot. We will tell you who you would see and what it costs before you pay anything. A slot is held once the booking payment is received — half the fee, at least 24 hours ahead.
If you would rather do it in writing, tell us what is going on and we will take it from there. Our PECHS clinic and DHA clinic pages have directions and maps. Both clinics are open 10am to 8pm.
Everything on this page is information, not diagnosis or treatment, and reading it does not create a clinician–client relationship. Only a qualified clinician can tell you what is going on. Read the full medical disclaimer.