Mental Health Care in Valencia for Expats

On the public system, start with your doctor at the health centre: primary care can detect, diagnose and treat adjustment, anxiety and depressive disorders, and refer you onward. If you are having thoughts of suicide, or worry about someone, call 024: free, confidential and open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Call 112 in an imminent life-threatening emergency.

Struggling since the move and want to talk to someone? Start with your doctor at the health centre (centro de salud). Primary care can diagnose and treat anxiety, depression and adjustment problems, and your doctor refers you on to a mental health unit if you need more.

If you are in crisis

If you are having thoughts of suicide, or are worried about someone who is, call 024: free, confidential and open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. If a life is in immediate danger, call 112 instead. Put both in your phone now. For other numbers worth keeping, see our guide to emergency numbers in Valencia.

How to get help through the public system

First check you are covered. One route to public cover: a foreign national who lives in Spain legally and habitually, and does not have to prove health cover another way, is covered at public expense. If you have no right to public-funded care, you may be able to get it by paying into a convenio especial. Our guides to the convenio especial and to public vs private healthcare help you pick a route.

Then it takes four steps.

1. Get your SIP card and show it at public centres and pharmacies. The SIP card guide covers the application.
2. Book a cita previa with your doctor in the Sanitat app. No doctor yet? See how to register with a GP.
3. Tell your doctor how you have been feeling, and ask for the mental health unit if you think you need it.
4. In the Hospital General department, your health centre then sends an electronic referral to the adult or child unit.

Public specialised mental health care covers diagnosis and follow-up, medication, and individual, group or family therapy. Psychoanalysis and hypnosis are not included.

Ask your doctor which unit serves you. In the Hospital General department, the adult unit is on Calle Pere Bonfill 8. Our guide to public hospitals shows which health department is yours.

Children and teenagers

The public system also treats mental health problems in children and teenagers. In the Hospital General department, the child and adolescent unit is on Calle Pintor Stolz 35, telephone 962787690. Your child’s doctor starts the same route as above. For the basics, see children’s healthcare in Valencia.

Private psychologists

If you prefer a private psychologist, check the name before you book. The Valencian psychology association keeps an official list where you can see whether someone is currently registered. If you find someone practising without a licence, the association has a mailbox for reports. Ask your insurer what your policy covers first. The guide to private health insurance explains the options.

↑ Contents

Not confirmed: - Whether public mental health visits carry a charge. Ask at your health centre before the first visit. - Waiting times, private session prices, English-language care and the languages of the 024 line. Ask when you call or book. - The age at which child units hand over to adult units. Ask your doctor.

General information checked against the sources listed above. Prices, opening hours and other details change; confirm them with the provider before you act. See how guides are checked.

Spotted an error? Report it.