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Services

24/7 services
24/7 service ACON Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Alcohol and other drugs Apps Bereavement Community groups Culturally diverse backgrounds Disability Doctor referral required Housing LGBTQ+ Legal Mental health Money and work Online chat Peer led Phone Support Postvention Relationships Sexuality Supporting someone else Supporting yourself Training Trans and Gender Diverse Trauma

On this page you can see the phone numbers and websites of crisis support lines and other health and wellbeing services.  

The first five listed are all 24/7 accessible, free-call crisis lines. Click on ‘What to expect’ to read about wait times, who you will speak to, and the service’s understanding of LGBTQ+ experiences. Some crisis lines will call emergency services if suicide is mentioned.  

Along the top of this page, you can see tags, such as 24/7 service, peer led, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, etc. Click + to see all the tags available. You can select tags to narrow your search for the services that are most relevant to your current needs. 

ACON provides free (or very low cost) and confidential counselling, care coordination, peer support and home-based care services to people living with HIV and their families, and LGBTQ+ people. 

For more information about the differences between services, where to find peer support, and what support specific health professionals can provide, follow the link below.  

Read more about navigating services here

When people feel supported, like they belong and are not a burden, feelings of suicide can decrease.   

When reaching out for help, LGBTQ+ people need to find support that validates and affirms their identities and experiences.  

Providing an inclusive service can include:

Signs of inclusion

Are there visible signs of inclusion on the service’s website or service location? 
That could look like a welcome here logo sticker, community representation flags that can include progress, trans, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags, and resources in different languages. 

Language

Does the service’s website, intake processes and resources use language that is inclusive and affirming of different gender identities and experiences? Click here for a best-practice template for an affirming intake form.  

Resources and programs

Does the service provide specific tailored resources or programs for LGBTQ+ communities? That could look like brochures and flyers that are available in reception areas, posters communicating specific community health promotion or programs, running specific LGBTQ+ programs or services and employing LGBTQ+ peer workers. 

Importance of accessing safe services

Available training

Self-care can be small and simple actions that support you through feelings of overwhelm or distress. These actions can be ways of comforting yourself, distracting yourself, relaxing yourself, or having a plan of action ready for you and loved ones when things become too much.  

Keeping tabs on activities and experiences that you like will help you practice caring for yourself in difficult times. Self-care can include reaching out to a friend or relative or calling a crisis line for the first time. Or you may be caring and listening to someone close to you talk about their suicidal thoughts and not know what to say or do and need to find care strategies. In these situations, it is important to remember the things that make you feel grounded and safe, try new activities or contact a listed service that a professional can offer you guided self-regulation techniques and tools. 

Follow this link for some ideas for self-care 

Follow this link for information on making a safety plan

 

24/7 service

Emergency 000

Emergency 000 is the number for police, ambulance, fire services. You should only call 000 if you are in immediate physical danger, or you think someone is in immediate physical danger.

000

Free Call 24/7

Website

What to expect

Supporting someone else Supporting yourself

You will talk to someone almost immediately. Wait times for police or ambulance vary. 

You will speak to an operator who will ask you a few questions and for your location. 

 It is not a mental health/suicide helpline and operators will only respond to immediate physical danger. 

They may not have training for mental health crises. 

 Police or ambulance may attend but you cannot choose which. 

As a mainstream service, some phone operators may have limited knowledge about our communities, and may make assumptions about pronouns, gender and sexuality. 

 

24/7 service

Lifeline

Lifeline is FREE 24/7 crisis support helpline. Lifeline offers support for people who are deaf or have a hearing or speech impairment, and information in Simplified Chinese, Arabic and Vietnamese.

13 11 14

Free Call 24/7

Online chat

24/7

Website

What to expect

Mental health Supporting someone else Supporting yourself

As a mainstream service, some phone operators may have limited knowledge about our communities, and may make assumptions about pronouns, gender and sexuality. 

Lifeline can have a wait time of up to 30 minutes.  

You will speak to a volunteer who will ask you about your distress.  

You can remain anonymous. 

Lifeline may call emergency services if you mention suicide or having a plan to suicide. 

Click here for help while you wait or aftercare. 

24/7 service

Beyond Blue

Beyond Blue is a FREE 24/7 mainstream suicide and mental health service staffed with trained counsellors.

1300 224 636

Free Call 24/7

Chat

24/7

Website

What to expect

Mental health Online chat Phone Support Supporting someone else Supporting yourself

As a mainstream service, some phone operators may have limited knowledge about our communities, and may make assumptions about pronouns, gender and sexuality. 

Beyond Blue can have a wait time of 30 minutes.  

You will speak to a counsellor who will provide brief support.  

You can remain anonymous.  

24/7 service

13YARN

13YARN is a free 24/7 service for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experiencing crisis.

13 92 76

Free Call 24/7

Website

What to expect

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental health Peer led Phone Support Supporting yourself

As a mainstream service, some phone operators may have limited knowledge about our communities, and may make assumptions about pronouns, gender and sexuality. 

You will speak to a Lifeline trained Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Crisis Supporter. 

Wait times may vary.  

You can remain anonymous.  

Accessibility options not available. 

Click here for help while you wait or aftercare. 

24/7 service

Suicide Call Back Service

Suicide Call Back Service is a FREE 24/7 crisis service for people at risk of suicide or concerned by someone at risk or bereaved by suicide.

1300 659 467

Free Call 24/7

Chat

24/7

Website

What to expect

Mental health Online chat Phone Support Supporting someone else

As a mainstream service, some phone operators may have limited knowledge about our communities, and may make assumptions about pronouns, gender and sexuality. 

Suicide Call Back Service can have a wait time of 30 minutes. 

You will speak to a trained counselor.  

They may call emergency services if you mention you have a plan or have taken suicidal action. 

 Accessibility options not available. 

Click here for help while you wait or aftercare. 

ACON LGBTQ+ Sexual Violence Consult Service

ACON offers free consultation, training and guidance to services that provide support to LGBTQ+ people who have experienced sexual violence with the goal of strengthening service provision. LGBTQ+ people can face unique stigmas, discrimination and barriers to disclosing sexual violence. We can guide you in how to best respond and support. Fill out the Expression of Interest form on the website.

Website

ACON LGBTQ+ Relationships Training Trauma

ACON Pride Training

ACON LGBTQ Inclusion Training provides learning and development programs to assist health and community organisations in increasing their knowledge of people with diverse genders and sexualities, their communities and health priorities.

Website

ACON LGBTQ+ Training

ACON Pride Training — LGBTQ suicide prevention eLearning for GPs

ACON, with the support of NSW Ministry of Health, is offering a free and essential online module designed to increase General Practitioner's understanding of suicide risk factors for LGBTQ people and boost baseline skills and knowledge around assessing suicide risk, responding to distress and suicidality.

Website

ACON LGBTQ+ Training

ACON SDFV Support Service

ACON’s SDFV Support Service provides free and confidential counselling and care coordination for LGBTQ+ people experiencing sexual, domestic, and family violence.

Website

ACON LGBTQ+ Relationships

ACON Support services

ACON offers a range of free and affordable counselling services for LGBTQ+ adults in NSW. Services include suicide aftercare and crisis counselling and peer support, Pride Counselling, care coordination, HIV and LGBTQ+ counselling, substance support and home-based care.

02 9206 2000

Mon - Fri 9AM - 5PM

Website

Sydney, Hunter, Northern Rivers

Sydney Front of House Mon - Fri 9AM - 6PM
Hunter Mon, Wed, Fri 9AM - 5PM, Tues & Thurs 9AM - 6PM
Northern Rivers Mon - Fri 9AM - 5PM
ACON Alcohol and other drugs Bereavement LGBTQ+ Mental health Peer led Postvention Sexuality Supporting someone else Supporting yourself

ACON’s Pride in Health + Wellbeing

Pride in Health + Wellbeing is a national membership program that provides year-round personalised support to organisations within the Health, Wellbeing and Humans services sector to improve their LGBTQ inclusive care, remove systematic barriers to accessing care and thereby reduce health disparities faced by LGBTQ communities.

Website

ACON LGBTQ+ Money and work Training

ACON’s Pride in Diversity

Pride in Diversity is the national not-for-profit employer support program for LGBTQ workplace inclusion specialising in HR, organisational change and workplace diversity.

Website

ACON LGBTQ+ Money and work

Black Rainbow

Providing outreach to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBTIQA+SB people and are currently developing a suite of knowledge sharing materials, undertaking research, and engaging in policy development and advocacy.

Website

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander

Charlee

Charlee is a digital suicide prevention hub created by the LGBTQ+ community. It takes a no wrong door approach and seeks to create a safer space designed by LGBTIQA+ peers, to connect other peers and supporters to resources that better reflect and address the experiences often faced by our communities.

Website

LGBTQ+ Peer led Supporting someone else Supporting yourself

Dress for Success Sydney

Dress for Success seeks to empower women to achieve economic independence by providing a network of support, professional attire and the development tools to help women thrive in work and in life. Regional locations include Wollongong and Newcastle.

Website

Money and work

EmployableQ

The EmployableQ toolkit provides a non-prescriptive set of resources to guide and support organisations to build inclusive, welcoming, and safe workplaces for LGBTIQ+ people with disability.

Website

Disability Money and work

Financial Independence Hub — Good Shepherd

A free and confidential service supporting people who have experienced financial abuse to feel more confident with money and plan for the future.

Website

Money and work Relationships

Fitted for Work

Fitted for Work helps Australian women experiencing disadvantage get work, keep work and strive at work.

Website

Money and work

Forcibly Displaced People Network

Forcibly Displaced People Network (FDPN) is the first registered LGBTIQ+ refugee-led organisation in Australia. FDPN works to support LGBTIQ+ people seeking asylum, refugees and migrants from non-Western countries to be safe in Australia.

Website

Culturally diverse backgrounds LGBTQ+

Full Stop

24/7 crisis support providing counselling for people whose lives have been impacted by violence and abuse. Full Stop offer a 24/7 telephone and online crisis counselling service for anyone in NSW – men and women – who have experienced, or are at risk of, sexual assault and their non offending supporters.

1800 385 578

24/7

Website

Phone Support Supporting yourself Trauma

Grief Australia

Provides information and resources on bereavement, including support in the form of a guide to counselling and support groups.

Website

Bereavement

LGBTIQA+ suicide bereavement groups — Charlee

Free, 8 session, small bereavement groups open to people in NSW and VIC bereaved by suicide in the last 3 to 24 months. Groups are free to attend. Participants do not need to have a Medicare card or mental health care plan.

Website

Bereavement LGBTQ+ Postvention

Life Rites Funerals Guidance & Counselling

Life Rites Funerals offer counselling to individuals of all ages, as well as couples, families, community groups and corporations. Get in touch for an initial obligation-free 15-minute call.

Website

Bereavement

Link2home

24/7 crisis support. A statewide telephone service providing information, assessment and referral to specialist homelessness services, temporary accommodation and other appropriate services for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

1800 152 152

24/7

Website

Housing

Lived Experience Forums

SANE's Lived Experience Forum are a safe place to share your experience of living with complex mental health issues. Their Lived Experience Forum helps you connect to people like you. You can read stories, reply to discussions or start your own.

Website

Community groups Mental health Online chat

Manual of Resources for Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention

The Manual is a collection of practical resources and tools that people, both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous, can use to make a real difference in promoting positive mental health and social emotional wellbeing, and preventing suicide in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

Website

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Supporting someone else Supporting yourself

NSW Family & Community Services — Community Housing

Community Housing NSW is affordable rental housing for people on very low to moderate incomes that is generally managed by not-for-profit community housing organisations.

Website

Housing
24/7 service

NSW Mental Health Line

NSW Mental Health Line offers professional help and advice and referrals to local mental health services.

1800 011 511 

Free Call 24/7

Website

What to expect

Mental health Supporting someone else Supporting yourself

As a mainstream service, some phone operators may have limited knowledge about our communities, and may make assumptions about pronouns, gender and sexuality. 

NSW Mental Health Line may have a wait time of up to 30 minutes 

You will speak to mental health professionals who will ask you detailed questions to determine if you need ongoing mental health care and how urgently  

They may then put you in contact with the most relevant mental health service for children, teens, adults and older people. 

Click here for help while you wait or aftercare. 

People With Disability Australia (PWDA)

People With Disability Australia (PWDA) is Australia’s peak rights and advocacy organisation by and for people with disability or who are d/Deaf.

Website

Disability

QLife

QLife is a non-crisis national LGBTQ+ peer run service offering support and referral for people wanting to talk about sexuality, identity, gender, bodies, feelings or relationships.

1800 184 527

Free Call
Mon - Sun 3PM - 12AM

Online chat

Mon - Sun 3PM - 12AM

Website

What to expect

LGBTQ+ Online chat Peer led Phone Support Sexuality Supporting someone else Supporting yourself

QLife phone and chat can have a wait time of 30 minutes.  

Phone calls are limited to 25 minutes and web chat is limited to 35 minutes.  

You will speak to a LGBTQ+ peer who can offer you support and referral.  

You can remain anonymous.  

Click here for some ideas on how to care for yourself as you wait. 

 

Rainbow Families

Rainbow Families works to reduce discrimination and disadvantage faced by children of LGBTQ+ parents and is a support network for parents and carers, as well as future parents and carers.

Website

LGBTQ+ Relationships Sexuality

Relationships Australia

Relationships Australia advocates and promotes the importance of respectful relationships with respect to positive individual mental health outcomes and general community outcomes.

Website

Relationships

Safe Relationships Project

The Safe Relationships Project can assist clients in accessing legal representation and to apply for Apprehended Domestic Violence Orders (ADVO) or Apprehended Personal Violence Orders (APVO) to help put an end to the violence they are experiencing.

Website

Legal LGBTQ+ Relationships

SASH – Support After Suicide Hub

Support After Suicide Hub (SASH) is the place to find support and connection for LGBTQIA+ people who have lost someone to suicide. SASH has information, resources, and an online community forum for LGBTQIA+ people bereaved by suicide aged 18+ to connect with each other.

Website

Bereavement LGBTQ+

Suicide prevention training — ASIST

Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) is an international educational workshop to help people respond to suicide signals.

Website

Training

Suicide prevention training — Switchboard

Switchboard delivers suicide awareness and suicide intervention skills trainings for people working with LGBTIQA+ communities.

Website

LGBTQ+ Training

Suicide prevention training — Twenty10 Community Connector

Twenty10’s Community Connector Suicide Prevention program provides training and support for organisations and community groups to identify, intervene and connect to support someone who is thinking about suicide, and help build suicide-safer communities.

Website

LGBTQ+ Training

Tenants Advice and Advocacy Program

The Tenants Advice and Advocacy Program (TAAP) provides tenancy advice and advocacy services to tenants throughout NSW.

Website

Housing Legal

The ACCESS Program

ACCESS is a free personalised mentoring program developed by Women’s and Girls’ Emergency Centre to support you to identify your strengths, build self-confidence and set goals for the future. This service is inclusive of trans women.

Website

Money and work

The Healing Foundation

The Healing Foundation is a national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisation that provides a platform to amplify the voices and lived experience of Stolen Generations survivors and their families.

Website

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Trauma

The LOVE Project

The LOVE Project, ACON’s ageing initiative, aims to empower older lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) communities, including people living with HIV, to lead healthy, active and more social lives.

Website

ACON Community groups

Training & Education — TransHub

ACON’s Trans Health Equity team has worked in partnership with a range of organisations and teams to bring you training that meets the current best standard in trans affirming care, language, and practice. Including Trans Vitality Trans Affirming Practice eLearning, Trans and Gender Diverse Sexual Health Care eLearning – ASHM, and Black Dog Institute’s Recognise and Respond training.

Website

Training Trans and Gender Diverse

Trans Vitality Toolkit

Trans Vitality is ACON’s resilience-building program for all trans and gender diverse adults in NSW. Trans Vitality focuses on trans people supporting trans people, and centres self-determination, autonomy and agency, while uplifting trans voices.

Trans Vitality

ACON Trans and Gender Diverse

Transcultural Mental Health Centre

The Transcultural Mental Health Centre (TMHC) works with health professionals and communities across New South Wales to support positive mental health for people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities.

Website

Mental health

VincentCare — LGBTIQ+ Support

VincentCare is a specialist accommodation and homelessness support service for people who are experiencing homelessness or at risk of becoming homeless.

Website

Housing LGBTQ+

Way Back Support Service

The Way Back Support Service is available upon discharge after a suicide attempt. It provides practical, non-clinical support following a suicide attempt. The service aims to assist individuals and their families by linking them with appropriate support services to help manage life situations and challenges.

Website

What to expect

Doctor referral required Peer led Supporting yourself

This service requires a referral after discharge from hospital.

Western Sydney Inclusive Community Networks

Helping LGBTQ people and people with HIV in Western Sydney take control of their health by providing a range of local services and supporting a variety of local community groups.

Website

ACON Community groups LGBTQ+

Sorry, we found no matching services.