Looking for mental well-being support?

Please note: If this is an emergency, and you’d like to speak to someone urgently - there are lines you can call:  

If someone’s life is in danger or there is an immediate risk of harm, call emergency services on 000.
Lifeline provides 24 hour, 7 days a week crisis support and suicide prevention services for all Australians experiencing emotional distress, which you can access through their website here, or by calling 13 11 14.
The Suicide Call Back Service is a nationwide service providing 24/7 telephone and online counselling to people affected by suicide, via website here and by calling 1300 659 467.

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Hi! 

Have you been looking for some mental-wellbeing support?

Does it seem a little confusing and overwhelming? Are you unsure about where to start? 

Well - welcome, my friend. As a practicing Clinician, lived-experience advocate and general human who has been around the system for a little bit, I want to help you make some sense of a bit of a complex system…

But firstly - thank you for being here. It’s not easy to reach out for support - for yourself or for your loved ones - but it’s important. You should be proud of yourself for taking the step. Self-compassion is really important in this journey - it is often complicated and messy, and you deserve to be gentle with yourself. You’re okay. 

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So let’s start with the practical…

Q: How do I access help or services for myself, or family/friends/colleagues/etc.? 

Well, our mental well-being system here in Australia allows us to access help in a number of ways, each with their own set of guidelines (fun!). A nice way to start might be the following: 

Start by seeing if you have a current Medicare card. If you do: 

Through a GP

Going through a GP or your local doctor can be one of the easier ways to access help. For example, under Medicare (that is, if you have a medicare card) - people are now able to access up to 20 subsidized sessions (per year) of therapy or other mental health supports. This might involve getting a Mental Health Treatment Plan - a form and questions you go through with your doctor, as well as a plan of attack. Once this has been completed, you should be able to access those subsidized sessions for the following year. 

Depending on the service provider that you go to (see below about what service providers are), you can get some of the fees covered by Medicare (for those 20 sessions). For young people, for example, headspace provides a number of sessions free of cost under one of these plans. You can also access many other psychologists or service providers for a subsidized fee under this plan (for example, they may charge $140, but Medicare may cover $90 so you just have to pay $50 out of your own pocket). 

If you don’t have a medicare card, or if you don’t feel like talking to someone in person just yet: 

Through phone lines or online

I understand that speaking to someone in person (even trusted GPs) can be really difficult. That is the best case scenario - for example, many times the GPs we see are part of our own cultural community and it gets even harder to seek help. Which is why phone lines can also be a great option. Sometimes this can mean long waits on the phone, but at least you can do it from somewhere you are comfortable - such as from home, or a car.  

One of the better things to come out of COVID times are state-based (or otherwise) mental health phone lines and online services that can help guide you to the best resources or support for you:  

  • For example, in Victoria: Head to Health have a phone line you can call that helps guide you to the appropriate resources or supports for you based on the postcode/area you live in.

  • Beyond Blue also have a national, 24/7 web chat support or phone line (1300 22 4636) you can call for brief support, to get info and advice, and to have someone help point you in the right direction so you can get the help you need for the cost of a local call (could be more from mobiles).

*The Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS National) is an interpreting service provided by the Department of Home Affairs.

  • headspace offers various online and phone supports to young people (between 12 and 25 yrs old) in Australia, including through chats privately with professional counselors over the phone or webchat, seven days a week between 9am – 1am (AEDT).

  • There are many more! You can find those specifically relating to multicultural mental health in this toolkit I created (you can filter by/scroll down to the Broad Type labeled ‘Culture x MH Services/Programs’ - but also in the other sections): Solis' Culture x MH - Toolkit & Directory 

Q: What are service providers/mental health professionals/clinicians? How do I know which one I need and would be helpful for me? 

Great question. The easy answer is, it is really hard to know.

You may have heard many different labels, including:

  • Therapist

  • Psychologist

  • Mental Health Professional

  • Psychiatrist

  • Counsellor

  • Mental Health Social Worker 

  • Clinician 

  • Service provider 

  • Youth or Community Worker

  • Occupational Therapist 

  • Psychotherapist

  • Mental Health Practitioner

  • ….and many, many more. 

To keep it simple, here’s a bit of a breakdown:

  • Some of these labels encompass a range of disciplines - such as Therapist, Clinician, Practitioner or Service Provider.

  • Others require specific, focused training or courses in order to hold a license or registration - such as a Mental Health Social Worker, Psychologist, Counsellor, Occupational Therapist or Psychiatrist.

  • Furthermore, you can find many or all of these across a range of settings - including Community Health Centers, Private & Individual Clinics or Hospitals. 

Rather than dive into what each of these separate labels or disciplines do, all you need to know is that there is a wide range of support available for you, depending on what you might need. Often, the services or supports you reach out to will help guide you to the discipline or type of mental health professional that you might need - that is, you don’t have to go into the conversation knowing exactly what type of service provider you want to talk to. 

Q: But what if I don’t know what I need, or what I want to talk about? I’ve just been feeling down or off - but it is hard to put into words…

And you are not alone. It is totally okay if you’re not sure where to start, or what has been happening.

Yes, there are many online and digital resources that are available to help you understand what you or your loved ones have been going through. But that doesn’t mean you need to be able to explain it all - in fact, many of the supports mentioned on this page are there to help support you through the journey of figuring that stuff out.

It can help to start thinking about what’s going on for you - but this can be as simple as just noticing what has been coming up. For example, has your sleep been bad, or have you been sleeping a lot more than normal? Have you been very worried about things, to the point where your stomach hurts without a physical reason? Have you been unable to eat properly or have you not felt like eating? Noticing and reflecting on these changes might help to guide the conversation when you do reach out, but the important thing is to know that you do not have to have it all figured out. Wherever you are at in your journey, there are resources and services to help guide you toward feeling a little bit better. 

A couple more things to keep in mind:

  • Try to approach resources & services like a toolkit available to you, and not a silver bullet:

    That is, you might need different types and levels of support at different times - and that is okay.

    Instead of feeling disheartened that one specific service, or therapist, or resource isn’t helping you - gather the courage to stay open to other avenues. For example, the same service that was super helpful three years ago may not quite hit the mark now. The same resource that your best friend found helpful - may also not be quite right for you.

  • Be critical about whether the therapist or service provider you are seeing is actually being helpful to you:

    Your safety and agency are the most important thing.

    What you feel and how safe you feel with your service provider matters a lot. You are allowed to feel like it’s not quite working - and often this is more to do with how well you and the person get along, and not because you are too difficult or complex to deal with.

    There is a resource or support out there that will help - don’t be discouraged if the one you are currently using is not at the moment.  I saw the same family & trauma counsellor for 5 years - she was brilliant and super helpful at the time, especially as I did not know what I needed. But when I went back to her after a few years, I found that she would focus more on my family stuff than other things I wanted to discuss, such as my ADHD symptoms. It was not that she was bad, or an incompetent therapist. Similarly, it was also not that I was unworthy, or too complicated to deal with. It was just the wrong time, and that is ok. This eventually led me to a therapist who was more suited to my needs at that time.

    I acknowledge that this is hard. That is without question - it requires you to open up more, with more effort and energy when you are already feeling down. But it can also mean that you eventually find the support that actually helps - and this can definitely make the effort and energy worth it. 

    I also acknowledge that this can be a very expensive process (financially) - to jump between clinical and community mental health supports, or organisations. However, there are often supports out there that you can connect to that can be a lower fee, or no fee, for access, and many of the phonelines and resources mentioned above also have alternatives they might be able to offer when required. This is all whilst there are big changes happening in the sector more broadly, as we move toward making supports more accessible systemically.

    It is also important to note here that not getting along with a therapist is very different to someone purposely making you feel unsafe and not okay. Which is why listening to your gut if you feel that something is not right, and that you don’t want to keep working with that person anymore, is really, really important. You can read more about mental health laws and your rights here.

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This journey can be a slow and complicated one - but you are allowed to explore how you are feeling at your own pace. There is no rush - it is more important that you feel safe throughout the process, so if anyone or anything is making you feel like you need to divulge or talk about things you’re not ready to yet - it is okay to say no. You absolutely do not need to open up till you feel ready. You are okay.

Take your time with it, and as you feel more comfortable, you will find that it starts to get a little easier to talk about difficult things. At the end of the day, it is about you feeling safe and moving along your path in the way you want, and need. 

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If you would like to chat about any of this further, or have any questions - you can get in touch here to make a time :)