When to stop reading and get help.

If you are having thoughts of suicide or cannot see a way through

This happens to men in the middle of working life more often than the statistics let on, and losing a role or watching your value drain out of a job is one of the circumstances where it happens. It is not weakness and it is not permanent.

Contact your local emergency number if you are in immediate danger. Otherwise a crisis line, your doctor, or a person you trust — in that order of speed. Free crisis lines exist in almost every country and they are staffed by people who have heard this exact situation before.

This site does not publish specific telephone numbers, because a wrong number is worse than none and they change. Search for the crisis line in your own country, or ask your doctor.

If money has become the emergency

No money for food, rent or a mortgage you cannot now cover, utilities being cut off, debt that has stopped being arithmetic and started being dread. This needs a debt adviser, and it needs one earlier than most men ask.

Free, independent debt advice exists in most countries and is usually faster and more effective than people expect. It is not a judgement on you, and advisers can often do things with creditors that you cannot do yourself. Do not wait until a deadline to make the call, and do not take advice about it from an AI, including this one.

If the role has already gone

Then this is the wrong guide, and saying so is more useful than keeping you here. This site is about readiness — the time before. What you need now is practical: your legal position on the way you were let go, your money, and in many countries a statutory process with deadlines attached.

That means a free employment advice service or a solicitor for the legal side, a debt or benefits adviser for the money, and your doctor if you have stopped sleeping. Reflection has its place afterwards. It is not the first call.

If drinking or something else has become how you cope

Common, rarely mentioned, and worth raising with a doctor rather than managing alone. If you are physically dependent on alcohol, stopping suddenly without medical advice can be dangerous — seizures, hallucinations, severe confusion or frightening shaking need urgent medical help, not willpower.