Pharmacist Support

What Pharmacist Support offers

The charity has supported the pharmacy profession for more than 180 years. Its help sits in three groups: mental health, money, and learning about wellbeing.

• Counselling. Confidential sessions with a counsellor when stress, low mood or a hard period at work or home gets too much to carry alone.
• Listening Friends. Peer support from people who understand pharmacy work.
• Addiction support. Specialist help for people affected by addiction, their own or someone else's.
• Financial assistance. Help when you face money problems, with separate schemes for students and trainees.
• Help with debt and benefits. Specialist advice on what you owe and what you are entitled to claim.
• Workshops and learning. Wellbeing workshops, a financial wellbeing workshop, workplace wellbeing guidance and a course, plus a wellbeing podcast.

The charity describes all of this support as free and confidential, and says its team listens without judgement.

Who can use Pharmacist Support

Eligibility rests on your link to the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) register or to an MPharm course. You qualify if one of these applies:

• You are a pharmacist on the GPhC register, or you were on the register in the past. Retired and former pharmacists count.
• You are a trainee pharmacist registered with the GPhC.
• You are studying for an MPharm degree in Great Britain.
• You are a dependant of a pharmacist. Read the dependants section of the charity's website for the current rules.

You do not need to join a union, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society or any other organisation first.

Who the published criteria leave out

The criteria name pharmacists, trainees, MPharm students and dependants. Pharmacy technicians, dispensers and counter staff are not named, so contact the charity before you assume you qualify. The criteria also refer to Great Britain and the GPhC register. Pharmacists in Northern Ireland register with the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland, so ask the charity directly about your case and read support in Northern Ireland.

Other services suit people outside the criteria, or needs the charity does not cover:

• NHS staff in England with a mental health or addiction problem can self-refer to NHS Practitioner Health.
• NHS and social care staff in Wales can use Canopi, the free Welsh staff service. New therapy referrals there are paused from 21 September 2026.
• Contract disputes, grievances and disciplinary meetings belong with a union such as the Pharmacists' Defence Association. Pharmacist Support gives wellbeing and money help, not workplace representation.
• For money pressure in any healthcare role, read money worries in healthcare work.

When a call to Pharmacist Support makes sense

Say a community pharmacist is working long locum days to pay down a debt, sleeping badly and dreading the next shift. One call to the charity opens both counselling and debt advice. An MPharm student whose loan has run short before exams can ask about the student financial assistance scheme. A retired pharmacist caring for a partner can ask about grants and a benefits check.

Pharmacist Support is a wellbeing and welfare charity. The charity does not give legal advice, act for you in a GPhC fitness to practise case or provide crisis care. For early signs of exhaustion and first steps, read burnout in healthcare work. Pressures specific to pharmacy, such as locum pressure and workload, have their own guides, and the pharmacists hub brings them together.

What to have ready when you get in touch

• Your GPhC registration number, or your university and year of study if you are a student.
• A one-line note of what you need: counselling, money help, addiction support or a mix.
• For financial help, recent figures for income, rent or mortgage, and any debts.
• How you prefer to be contacted, and safe times to call you.

The team replies on weekdays and aims to respond within five working days. If you feel unsafe, do not wait for a reply. Call 999 in immediate danger, call NHS 111 and choose the mental health option in England, or ring Samaritans free on 116 123 at any hour. The urgent support page lists more numbers across the UK.