Doctors' Support Network

How DSN peer support works

DSN connects UK medics who have mental health concerns with others in the same position. The core service is an online support forum. The forum is confidential and anonymous, so you can describe a relapse, a sick note or a hard return to work without other users knowing your name or hospital.

Members use the forum to find medics with similar concerns: depression on a training rotation, bipolar disorder and on-call work, anxiety before a revalidation meeting, or how to talk to an occupational health doctor. The value lies in hearing from people who have faced the same decisions inside medicine.

The charity is funded entirely by donations from members. DSN also campaigns on doctors' health, responds to consultations on physician health and runs the &me campaign against stigma around mental illness in doctors.

Membership types

• Full members. UK-based doctors with mental health concerns. Full members can use the forum.
• Student members. UK-based medical students with mental health concerns. Student members can use the forum.
• Associate members. Anyone else who wants to support the charity. Associates do not get forum access.
• Mailing list. News and updates only, with no forum access.

A diagnosis is not listed as a condition of joining. The criterion is a mental health concern.

What DSN does not offer

DSN is peer support. The charity does not give individual medical advice, one-to-one counselling or referrals to specialist services. Doctors facing a GMC complaint are pointed to the BMA doctor support service instead.

Match the service to the need:

• To talk to a counsellor or another doctor by phone at any hour: BMA wellbeing support on 0330 123 1245.
• For assessment and treatment of a mental health or addiction problem as an NHS worker in England: NHS Practitioner Health.
• For NHS and social care staff in Wales: Canopi. New therapy referrals there are paused from 21 September 2026, and self-referrals continue.
• For live, facilitated group sessions online: Doctors in Distress.
• For psychiatrists: the Psychiatrists' Support Service.

When DSN suits you

Say a registrar has been managing depression for two years with a GP and medication. Treatment is in place, but nobody at work knows, and the registrar wants to ask how other doctors handled telling a supervisor. A forum of peers with the same experience fits this question better than a crisis line or a therapy service.

DSN also suits doctors who find face-to-face groups hard, or who work odd hours and need to read and post when a shift ends. If isolation is part of the problem, read our guide to isolation in healthcare work. If fear of the GMC or of colleagues finding out is stopping you from getting help, read fear of seeking help.

How to join

1. Go to dsn.org.uk and choose the membership type which fits you.
2. Complete the online form. Joining is free, and DSN suggests a donation.
3. Once accepted as a full or student member, log in to the forum.

To reach DSN about anything else, use the contact form on the website. Requests to invite DSN to a physician health event go through a separate form for the Chair.

Urgent help

DSN does not describe the forum as an emergency service. If you feel unsafe, call 999, call NHS 111 and choose the mental health option in England, or ring Samaritans free on 116 123 at any hour. More numbers are on the urgent support page.