New guidance launched to support colleagues in moments of distress or mental health crisis
28 Aug 2026
Colleague Crisis Pathway
New Colleague Crisis Pathway and supporting guidance documents have been developed to help colleagues respond with care and clarity when a colleague is experiencing significant distress, urgent wellbeing concerns or a potential mental health crisis.
The guidance can be accessed and used by all colleagues, with a particular focus on people leaders and those in people-focused roles who may need to support a colleague in a difficult or urgent situation. It provides practical steps to help colleagues understand what to do, who to contact and how to respond safely if they are concerned about someone’s immediate wellbeing and safety.
Colleagues experiencing high levels of distress or a mental health crisis can happen for many different reasons and can present at work in different ways. A colleague may appear visibly distressed at work, share worrying information by email, phone or Teams, not attend work when expected, or contact someone outside normal working hours. In these moments, knowing how to respond calmly and appropriately can make a significant difference.
The Colleague Crisis Pathway has been created to support both colleague safety and mental health by giving clear pathways for different levels of concern. It explains how to recognise:
- Serious but not urgent situations
- Serious and urgent concerns
- Emergencies where there may be an immediate risk to life or serious harm
The guidance acknowledges that supporting someone in distress can be emotionally demanding. It includes information for colleagues and managers to debrief, seek support where needed and look after their own wellbeing after a distressed or crisis interaction.
All colleagues are encouraged to familiarise themselves with the Colleague Crisis Pathway document and supporting guidance and store it somewhere accessible, so it can be referred to quickly if needed. While no document can remove the difficulty of responding to a crisis, this guidance aims to make those moments clearer, safer and supported - for the colleague in distress and for the person responding.
Updating your personal contact information and emergency contact details
To help us ensure we can support all colleagues appropriately in the event of a welfare or safety concern arising, we ask all colleagues to check and update their personal contact information and emergency contact details. This information can be critical when supporting a welfare or safety concern of a colleague.
You can update your personal contact information via MyView
Advice on how to update your emergency contact details can be found here: Who should we call in an emergency? | StaffNet | The University of Manchester