Table 2.

Summary of themes and sub-themes

Key themes	Sub-themes	Supporting quotes
Appropriate and timely support	Tailored services	‘I was still self-harming so like at the beginning of the session she’d be like “So how was your week?” and I would be like tell her how many times I’d self-harmed and it was just felt really tailored to exactly what I needed at that time.’ P22: White British Female, aged 18–25 years
	Navigating complex systems	And if your mental health problems are complex or long term it’s basically “Well we don’t deal with that” so you’re left floating in this world P11: White British Female, aged 56–65 years
Fostering a sense of community	Shared experiences	“So you go to the meetings, as many as you can, and you sit and listen and you identify with people and you look for similarities, not for differences.” P15: White British Female, aged 56–65 years
	Online communities	“Since I’ve had this computer I’ve not self-harmed because I’ve had people to talk to and people just to hear me” P1: White and Black Caribbean Male, aged 46–55 years
Awareness of support	Knowledge of service availability	‘I think services being well advertised would have made a big difference because I really honestly didn’t know about any services apart from just going to the GP.’ P21: White British Female, aged 26–35 years
	Lack of clarity	‘you’re kind of worried then waiting for what you’re getting, you don’t know what it is, so you don’t know what to expect, like, I quite like knowing what I’m doing and what I’m expected to do and things.’ P3: White British Female, aged 26–35 years
Employment and education	Creating supportive environments	“…it’s my secret, I can hide that from you, I can mask, let you know that everything’s OK and keep on doing my job, but behind it you don’t know what’s there, but had you asked the question I might have told you” P10: White British Male, aged 56–65 years
	Empowerment and self esteem	‘I do quite a lot of art that I put on my Etsy shop in my spare time as well but it’s been quite nice getting my work because of my mental health’ P8: White British Female, aged 18–25 years