Please - someone qualified in mental health, please please respond quickly.

Today at work, a colleague had some kind of episode. I think it was some form of psychosis, but Im not even vaguely qualified to diagnose.

Edited to remove details that could identify him - And me!

I see you are in the UK and this is the advice from the NHS website :

Getting help for others
People with psychosis often have a lack of insight. They're unaware that they're thinking and acting strangely.
Due to their lack of insight, it's often down to the friends, relatives or carers of a person affected by psychosis to seek help for them.
If you're concerned about someone you know and think they may have psychosis, you could contact their social worker or community mental health nurse if they've previously been diagnosed with a mental health condition.

If you think the person’s symptoms are placing them at possible risk of harm you can:

take them to the nearest accident and emergency (A&E) department, if they agree

call their GP or local out-of-hours GP

call 999 and ask for an ambulance

Originally Posted by Echos Myron

I see you are in the UK and this is the advice from the NHS website :

Getting help for others
People with psychosis often have a lack of insight. They're unaware that they're thinking and acting strangely.
Due to their lack of insight, it's often down to the friends, relatives or carers of a person affected by psychosis to seek help for them.
If you're concerned about someone you know and think they may have psychosis, you could contact their social worker or community mental health nurse if they've previously been diagnosed with a mental health condition.

If you think the person’s symptoms are placing them at possible risk of harm you can:

take them to the nearest accident and emergency (A&E) department, if they agree

call their GP or local out-of-hours GP

call 999 and ask for an ambulance

You're a star. Thanks Echos. Thats confirmed my instinct.

Originally Posted by CassyO

You're a star. Thanks Echos. Thats confirmed my instinct.

Good luck, I hope he's ok.

Originally Posted by Echos Myron

Good luck, I hope he's ok.

We've managed to make sure he's safe for tonight... Thank you so much for your reply Echos - it spurred a whole team in to action. I often get very frustrated with these boards, but tonight you made PC worth its weight in gold. Thank you x

[Mygrandjourney]

For future reference, I hope you and coworkers aren't taking on something that could get out of your control. I hope there is some mechanism in place to make sure that this individual gets the help he needs and sticks with it.

Originally Posted by Mygrandjourney

For future reference, I hope you and coworkers aren't taking on something that could get out of your control. I hope there is some mechanism in place to make sure that this individual gets the help he needs and sticks with it.

There really hasn't been much support - His family are a long way away and have been less than helpful. Things came to a head today - he came in to work again and was worse than yesterday. Its become pretty obvious what the problem is --- he is a schizophrenic (or similar) and has stopped taking his medication I did my best to keep him calm whilst my colleagues called an ambulance. We tried to contact his family but they weren't picking up. Now he is in hospital so I think our role is over with. We can't get updates on whether he has been sectioned as we're not next of kin, so i guess all we can do is wait and see if anyone updates us. I am completely drained, but nothing I have gone through today can compare to the hell that poor guy must be going through. I feel so bad for him - he's a nice guy and doesn't deserve that hideous illness