Get help now
In an emergency, call 000.
Help is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, anywhere in Australia. If you need help now, call:
- Lifeline – 13 11 14
- 13YARN – 13 92 76
- Kids Helpline – 1800 55 1800
- Mental Health Crisis Assessment and Treatment Team in your state/territory
- Beyond Blue – 1300 224 636.
Find a list of services that can help you right now at Head to Health.
If you need urgent care, go to the emergency department at your local hospital. If you have private hospital insurance cover, you can upgrade your cover to access in-hospital psychiatric care and receive inpatient mental health care once, before the waiting period is completed.
Strategies and plans
Our strategies and plans guide our work to prevent suicide in Australia. They include the:
- National Suicide Prevention Strategy – raises awareness of suicide risk, and supports those at risk of taking their own lives or who have lost someone close
- National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander suicide prevention strategy – addresses the high rates of suicide among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people; we are developing a renewed version of the strategy
- Fifth National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan – commits all governments to integrated mental health and suicide prevention action from 2017 to 2022
- National Mental Health and Wellbeing Pandemic Response Plan – navigates through the COVID-19 pandemic to support the mental health of Australians.
Initiatives and programs
We fund various initiatives and programs to support people at risk of suicide and those affected by the suicide of a loved one. These include:
- headspace – supports young people with mental or physical health issues and with managing work and study
- Kids Helpline – provides a free, private and confidential telephone and online counselling service specifically for young people aged 5 to 25 years
- Suicide Call Back Service – provides 24-hour free nationwide telephone, video and online counselling for anyone who is affected by suicide
- Beyond Blue – provides information and immediate phone support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; this includes its Way Back Support Service, which supports people who have attempted suicide
- Lifeline – provides information and immediate phone support to people who are struggling, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
- 13YARN – provides crisis support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who are feeling overwhelmed or having difficulty coping
- Life in Mind – connects suicide prevention services to each other and the community
- MindSpot – provides information about mental health, online assessments, and online treatment to adults with anxiety, stress, depression and chronic pain
- Stand By Support After Suicide Program – supports people and communities who have been affected by suicide
- National Suicide Prevention Trial – trialling tailored services and programs across 12 regions in Australia with higher-than-average suicide rates
- the National Suicide and Self-Harm Monitoring System – collects and coordinates information on suicide and self-harm
- Prevention Hub – a collaboration of the Black Dog Institute and Everymind to deliver a research program that targets people at greater risk of mental health conditions and suicide.
This is part of our broader work to support mental health in Australia.
Grants and tenders
We advertise all grant opportunities on GrantConnect.
Research
The Suicide Prevention Research Fund supports research into ways we can prevent suicide, and helps turn this knowledge into more effective services.
You can register your interest in research grants opportunities.
We also provided funding to Young Minds Matter for a national survey looking at the mental health and wellbeing of Australian children and adolescents. This gave use a national picture of how common mental ill-health is in young people, and how it affects them.
Who we work with
We work with experts and organisations in Australia and overseas to make sure we get our priorities right. This includes the National Mental Health Commission, which aims to:
- give mental health and suicide prevention national attention
- provide evidence and advice to improve our mental health and suicide prevention system
- influence reform
- report, advise and collaborate on suicide prevention.
The National Suicide Prevention Adviser worked with communities and the Prime Minister to improve coordination of services for people in crisis and their families.