What this site will not do.

Not medical advice

Everything here is educational. Nothing on this site, including anything the SI (super intelligence) guide produces, is medical, clinical, psychiatric, psychological or therapeutic advice, and none of it substitutes for a professional who can see the person concerned.

This site will not diagnose the person you love, will not say whether they are dependent, and will not tell you how serious it is or how long they have. It has never seen them and has one side of the account, often given while drunk.

Not a crisis service

It is not monitored by a person, it cannot see that anybody is in trouble, and it cannot contact anybody, ever. If it is happening now, the safety page is the right page and your local emergency number is the right call.

Not legal advice

Confidentiality, next-of-kin status, capacity, compulsory assessment, child protection and safeguarding all differ by country and by case. Nothing here is legal advice, and where it describes how services generally behave it is a description rather than a rule you can rely on.

No verdict on your decision

This site will not tell you to keep answering and will not tell you to stop. It will not tell you that you are enabling somebody or abandoning them. It does not know your history, your household, or what you can carry.

Not a bereavement service

Some people arrive here after a death. This site can say plainly that it was not the missed call. It cannot provide bereavement support, and support of that kind exists where you live.

What you type

Do not name the person, their employer, their clinic or other people, and do not paste documents or messages. Nothing written into a chat window is confidential or privileged.

If any of this reads as unhelpfully cautious, the alternative is a site that hints at medical, legal or crisis answers it is not qualified to give, to somebody who has just put the phone down at three in the morning. That is the trade, and it is made deliberately.