Crisis and emergency support in Australia
Every service on this page is free, and every one of them is open right now.
If someone’s life is in danger
Call 000. Ambulance and police. Use it if someone has taken something, has been hurt, or is in immediate danger.
Who to call
Lifeline — 13 11 14. Anyone, any hour. For being overwhelmed, being in distress, or thinking about suicide. You don’t have to be in danger to ring.
Suicide Call Back Service — 1300 659 467. Professional counselling, any hour, for people aged 15 and over. For people thinking about suicide, people worried about someone else, and people bereaved by suicide.
Beyond Blue — 1300 22 4636. Any hour. Free counselling for anything on the mental health spectrum, from a bad stretch to a diagnosis you’re struggling with.
13YARN — 13 92 76. Any hour, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Run by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander crisis supporters.
Kids Helpline — 1800 55 1800. Any hour, for anyone aged 5 to 25. Free and confidential. It covers anything — family, school, friendships, feeling unsafe, or not knowing what’s wrong.
1800RESPECT — 1800 737 732. Any hour, for domestic, family and sexual violence. For people experiencing it, and for people supporting someone who is.
Your state or territory’s mental health line
Most states and territories also have their own mental health phone line, open any hour. It’s run by the public mental health service, and the person who answers can help you find support where you live. Call it when things feel urgent but nobody is in immediate danger. You can also call it about someone else. Healthdirect, the government-funded health information service, lists the number for each state and territory.
If you’d rather not talk
Plenty of people can’t make a phone call when things are bad. The options below are run by the same services.
- Lifeline — text 0477 13 11 14, or use the web chat at lifeline.org.au
- 1800RESPECT — text 0458 737 732, or use the chat or video call at 1800respect.org.au
- Suicide Call Back Service — online chat at suicidecallbackservice.org.au, or video counselling if you’re 18 or over
- Beyond Blue — web chat at beyondblue.org.au, or email, answered within a day
- Kids Helpline — web chat at kidshelpline.com.au
What happens when you call
If not knowing what will happen is what’s stopping you, this is what happens.
Someone answers and asks what’s going on. You talk for as long as you need to. There’s no time limit and no script to follow, and however it comes out is fine. You don’t need to have a reason ready.
You can call about something you’d describe as small. Crisis lines are not only for emergencies, and the people answering would rather hear from you early.
You don’t have to give your name.
Ringing a helpline does not automatically send anyone to your door. If the person answering believes you or someone else is in serious danger, they can involve emergency services, and they may ask where you are so they can send help. The law can also require a service to pass on information, for example about a child who is being harmed. If any of that is what’s stopping you, you can ask the person who answers how it works before you say anything else.
If you’re worried about someone else
You can ring any of these services about another person. That’s what they’re for as much as anything, and you don’t need their permission to ask for advice about how to help.
The Suicide Call Back Service and 1800RESPECT both take calls from people supporting someone else. Kids Helpline takes calls from young people; if you’re an adult worried about a young person, Lifeline or Beyond Blue will talk it through with you.
If someone is in immediate danger, call 000 and, if it’s safe, stay with them.
If you’re not in crisis but you’re not okay
That’s the case for a lot of people reading this, and the services above still apply. So do the slower routes.
Free and low-cost options covers what’s available without a Referral A letter from a GP, psychiatrist or paediatrician that you need for the Medicare rebate. You can see a psychologist without one if you pay the full fee. More in the jargon decoder and without paying, and would I benefit from therapy? takes on the question of whether any of this is for you.
If you’ve decided you want to see someone and the barrier is the phone call itself, what to say when you book is a short page about exactly that.