Find Services and Information

If you are in immediate danger, call 000 or visit your local emergency department.

Find services Australia-wide or in your area.

National: Family and parenting

For a confidential telephone counselling service, information and support for parents and carers, call or visit Parentline.

When you call Parentline:

  • you can request an interpreter
  • you can ask for a male or female counsellor
  • counselling is confidential unless you or someone else is at risk of harm
  • you can speak with the same counsellor for ongoing support
  • you will be asked what you want to talk about and what you most need from the call.

For free, reliable, up-to-date and independent information on parenting, visit Raising Children Network.

For useful information on keeping your children safe in the home, water, car and outdoors, visit Kidsafe.

For support and information for expecting parents and parents of children, from birth to 5 years of age, contact Pregnancy, Birth and Baby via phone 1800 882 436 or video call to speak with a registered maternal child health nurse (7 days a week, 7am to midnight).

Community Hubs are welcoming places where migrant and refugee families, particularly mothers with young children, come to connect, share and learn. Hubs bridge the gap between migrants and the wider community, they connect women with schools, with each other, and with organisations that can provide health, education, and settlement support.

For support, information and education to anyone affected by the death of a baby before, during or shortly after birth, call the Sands helpline 1300 072 637 or visit Sands – miscarriage, stillbirth and newborn death support.

Red Nose provides information on safe sleep and pregnancy, and bereavement support for families affected by the death of a child.

White Ribbon’s Fatherhood Program

National: Child care, parental leave and work

There are different types of child care in Australia. For information on where to find child care and links to information on Child Care Subsidy, visit Child Care Finder.

You can find information on leave and other employment topics on the Fair Work Ombudsman’s website and on types of workplace flexibility in the Workplace Gender Equality Agency.

National: Counselling and relationships

For a safe and private place to talk about concerns, confidential, anonymous and non-judgmental support, coaching and practical strategies for managing personal relationship concerns, relevant information and links to other appropriate services and programs as required, call 1300 789 978 (24 hours a day) or find online support at MensLine Australia.

Men’s Referral Service 1300 766 491 provides telephone counselling, information and referrals for men.

Relationships Australia provides relationship support services for individuals, families and communities across Australia. Services include counselling, family dispute resolution and family violence prevention. There are services in each state and territory. To be connected to the nearest Relationships Australia to you call 1300 364 277.

The Family Relationship Advice Line provides information and referral to services that can help strengthen relationships, overcome relationship difficulties or deal with separation. Call 1800 050 321 (Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm; Saturday 10am to 4pm). Family Relationships Online provides information for families about family relationship issues.

For information on violence against women and how to prevent it:

  • No to Violence helps men understand violence and abuse towards family members.
  • For qualified and experienced counsellors that can provide information – anonymously – any time of day or night call 1800 737 732 or visit the website 1800RESPECT.
  • White Ribbon provides information on preventing violence against women.

National: Health and mental health

If you are experiencing a personal crisis or thinking about suicide, call Lifeline 13 11 14. It is a confidential telephone service (available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week). All calls are free.

For telephone mental health assistance (available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week), call Mental Health Line 1800 011 511. Interpreting services are available.

For telephone, video and online professional counselling if you are affected by suicide, call the Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467 (available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week).

For information on health and to find a health service provider, including bulk billing services, visit Healthdirect or call 1800 022 222. Healthdirect also has a free-to-download mobile app.

To book an after-hours home doctor call National Home Doctor Service (bulk billed) 13 74 25.

To speak to a trained mental health professional who will listen, provide information and advice, and point you in the right direction so you can seek further support, call beyondblue 1300 224 636 (available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week) or chat online (7 days a week, 3pm to 12 am). The service is confidential, and you can let them know if you’d like to remain anonymous.

MensLine Australia provides a safe and private place to talk about concerns, confidential, anonymous and non-judgmental support, coaching and practical strategies for managing personal relationship concerns, relevant information and links to other appropriate services and programs as required. Call 1300 789 978 (available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week) or find online support.

Dadvice provides information about becoming a dad, getting involved, your relationship, looking after yourself, facing fears, supporting your partner, anxiety and depression, and work. You can also read information about perinatal anxiety and depression in dads.

Perinatal Anxiety and Depression Australia (PANDA) provides a safe and confidential space for any new or expecting parent struggling with the challenges of becoming a new parent. Trained counsellors can help you work through your challenges by talking openly and honestly about your thoughts, feelings and experiences.

For a free, national helpline service for women, men and their families affected by anxiety and depression during pregnancy and in the first year of parenthood, call the PANDA Helpline 1300 726 306 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 7:30pm).

Mental Health in Multicultural Australia has translated brochures on mental health.

National: Financial

For information on financial counselling, a free service offered by community organisations, community legal centres and some government agencies, see MoneySmart.

Find help and advice for your financial planning, investing, insurance, retirement and unclaimed money, including calculators and tools.

MoneySmart has a quick and easy budgeting tool (available in English, Simplified/Traditional Chinese, Italian, Arabic, Vietnamese, Somali, Dari, and Sudanese Arabic), and information on budgeting for a baby.

Find information on family benefits, enrolling your baby in Medicare, and eligibility at Human Services.

National: Police and legal

State and territory police have responsibility for community safety and protection. They preserve the peace, uphold the law, prevent crime, provide assistance in personal emergencies and coordinate and manage emergency incidents. They also enforce road and traffic rules, investigate crimes, and deal with missing persons reports.

In an emergency, you should always call police on 000.

To contact police for matters that are not emergencies, call 131 444 in all states and territories in Australia except Victoria. In Victoria, you should contact your local police station.

Legal Aid provides a number of free legal services to people in the community, such as legal information, referral services and minor assistance.

To find the nearest community legal centre, providing free and accessible legal and related services, see National Association of Community Legal Centres.

Information on discrimination and racism: https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/race-discrimination/publications/know-your-rights-racial-discrimination-and-vilification

National: Settlement Services

If you have arrived through the government’s Humanitarian Settlement Program (HSP), you will have access to support from HSP service providers.

Find service providers for refugees and people seeking asylum in your state/territory.

The Settlement Engagement and Transition Support (SETS) program aims to equip and empower humanitarian entrants, other eligible permanent migrants and their communities to address their settlement needs, in order to improve social participation, economic wellbeing, independence, personal wellbeing and community connectedness. Find SETS service providers.

SBS Settlement Guide is available in various languages with information and podcasts on common settlement topics

Find an Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP) in your state or territory.

National: Services for Asylum Seekers

The Immigration Advice and Application Assistance Scheme (IAAAS) is funded by the Australian Government to provide professional immigration advice and visa application assistance to non-citizens, who have arrived lawfully in Australia and who meet specific eligibility criteria.

National: Youth Services

Kidshelpline 1800 55 1800 a free counselling service for young people aged 5 to 25. The service is offered by phone, WebChat and email. Male and female counsellors available as well as interpreters. It is available 24h a day 7 days a week.

Eheadspace 1800 650 890 a free service that provides online and telephone support and counselling. This service is specialised in young people from 12 to 25 years old and their families. Anyone who lives in Australia can access this service. There are also centres available throughout Australia with trained workers. You can find the closest centre to you here.

ReachOut forum It is a forum for young people where they can share their experiences and worries safely and anonymously. You only need to create an account and select the topic you would like to discuss. You can create an account here.

BeyondBlue young people forum for people from 12 to 25 years old where they can share their experiences and worries safely and anonymously. To create an account click here

QLIFE provides anonymous and free LGBTI peer support and referral for people in Australia wanting to talk about sexuality, identity, gender, bodies, feelings or relationships. Phone counselling by trained LGBTI-peer volunteer and professional counsellors for all ages, across a diversity of people's genders, bodies, relationships, sexualities and lived experiences. The helpline is anonymous and free, 3pm to 12am every day. 1800 184 527.

Australian Capital Territory

Accommodation

If you are homeless or at risk of homelessness, contact OneLink – a free phone service to help connect you to the best available support if you are currently homeless or at risk of homelessness. Call 1800 176 468.

Family and parenting

Parentline Australian Capital Territory: 02 6287 3833 (cost of a local call, Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm).

Health and mental health

Counselling services for survivors of torture and trauma: Companion House. Call 02 6251 4550.

Legal

Legal Aid ACT provides a number of free legal services to people in the community, such as legal information, referral services and minor assistance.

To find the nearest community legal centre, providing free and accessible legal and related services, see National Association of Community Legal Centres.

New South Wales

Family and parenting

Parentline New South Wales: 1300 130 052 (cost of a local call, Monday to Friday 9am to 9pm, Saturday and Sunday 4pm to 9pm).

Families NSW provides information on parenting, support and services in NSW.

Resourcing Parents provides information on parenting programs, courses, and resources.

Karitane provides support and education on parenting to parents with children up to 5 years old. Karitane Careline has Family Health Nurses you can speak to for support by calling 1300 227 646 or 02 9794 2350 (Monday to Thursday 12:30 to 9pm, 11pm to 6am; Friday 8am to 4:30pm; Saturday 9am-3:30pm).

Tresillian Parent’s Help Line provides a qualified Tresillian Nurse you can call on 1300 272 736.

Health and mental health

For information on transcultural mental health in NSW http://www.dhi.health.nsw.gov.au/transcultural-mental-health-centre

Counselling services for survivors of torture and trauma: Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors (STARTTS)

Sydney Queer – connects Muslim LGBTIQA+ community with physical, mental and spiritual health service providers.

Accommodation

If you are homeless or at risk of homelessness, contact Link2home. Link2home homelessness information line provides information, assessment and referral to specialist homelessness services, temporary accommodation and other appropriate services for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness in NSW. Call 1800 152 152.

Legal

Legal Aid NSW provides a number of free legal services to people in the community, such as legal information, referral services and minor assistance.

To find the nearest community legal centre, providing free and accessible legal and related services, see National Association of Community Legal Centres.

Services for refugees and asylum seekers

Refugee Health Nurse Program – Initial health care for newly arrived refugees and asylum seekers. Information, support and referral to health professionals regarding ongoing health care. For referrals contact SWSLHD-RHSReferrals@health.nsw.gov.au or 9794 0770.

Como Social & Leisure Centre (CSLC) - Provides support for people living with mental health issues and their carers. Can be accessed by people over 18 years living in the Sutherland Shire who have a diagnosed mental illness or are caring for someone with a mental illness. For more information you can contact Intake-DS@sydneyvinnies.org or (02) 9528 4963

Cleveland Centre - General counselling for individuals and couples and early intervention programs for families with children under the age of 12 years. Counselling is available from Monday to Thursday. For further information you can contact clevelandcentre@sydneyvinnies.org or (02) 9690 5620

The Asylum Seeker Centre provides accommodation, legal, financial, health, employment, and other assistance.

Northern Territory

Family and parenting

Parentline and Northern Territory: 1300 301 300 (7 days a week, 8am to 10pm).

Health and mental health

Counselling services for survivors of torture and trauma: Melaleuca Refugee Centre.

Accommodation

For information on accommodation and other needs visit Shelterme.

Legal

Northern Territory Legal Aid provides a number of free legal services to people in the community, such as legal information, referral services and minor assistance.

To find the nearest community legal centre, providing free and accessible legal and related services, see National Association of Community Legal Centres.

Queensland

Family and parenting

Parentline Queensland: 1300 301 300 (7 days a week, 8am to 10pm).

Information on babies and young families in Queensland https://www.qld.gov.au/families/babies.

Health and mental health

Read information about mental health for people from non-English speaking background in Qld: https://metrosouth.health.qld.gov.au/qtmhc.

Harmony Place – offers free mental health services for people aged from 16 to 65 years. Programs offered include individual sessions with a psychologist, links with services that can support you in different areas, help to understand services systems or assisting you to access a mental health care plan. For more information call 07 3412 8282, or email admin@harmonyplace.org.au

Multicultural Connect Line – 1300 079 020 It is a free telephone service available Queensland wide. It provides support and information on mental health services. Translators and multilingual staff members are available. The information about this helpline is translated into 12 community languages on their website. Available 9:00 am to 4:30 pm, Monday to Friday.

Counselling services for survivors of torture and trauma: Queensland Program of Assistance to Survivors of Torture and Trauma (QPASTT).

Multicultural Communities Council Gold Coast LTD – provides services for people of cultural and linguistically diverse backgrounds across the aged, disability and community service sectors.

World Wellness Clinic – International Students. Specialised health services for people from cultural and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Some of the practitioners are bilingual or multilingual and interpreters are available through TIS National. International students can access this mental health program with any Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC). For an appointment, call (07) 3333 2100, email admin@worldwellnessgroup.org.au

Accommodation

If you are homeless or at risk of homelessness, contact Homelessness Hotline 1800 474 753. Organisations providing information on emergency accommodation: https://www.qld.gov.au/housing/emergency-temporary-accommodation/emergency-accommodation.

Legal

Legal Aid Queensland provides a number of free legal services to people in the community, such as legal information, referral services and minor assistance.

To find the nearest community legal centre, providing free and accessible legal and related services, see National Association of Community Legal Centres.

South Australia

Family and Parenting

Parent Helpline South Australia 1300 364 100 (cost of a local call, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day)

Health and mental health

Counselling services for survivors of torture and trauma: Survivors of Torture and Trauma Assistance and Rehabilitation Service (STTARS).

ASK PEACE – (08) 8245 8110 A helpline that provides therapeutic work, casework, information and referral services. The team is formed by senior practitioners who come from diverse backgrounds and speak languages other than English. They can also access interpreter services. It is available from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, Monday to Friday. Email: askpeace@rasa.org.au

Community Access & Services SA - provides a free and confidential Mental Health Service for people from non-English speaking backgrounds in metropolitan Adelaide. This service is available for people from 13 years old and is provided by staff members who speak English, Swahili, Kirundi, Farsi, Dari, Vietnamese, French and Nepali. Contact this service here and on (08) 8447 8821 and admin@caassa.org.au.

Accommodation

If you are homeless or at risk of homelessness, call 1800 003 308.

Find other accommodation options in SA.

Legal

Legal Services Commission of South Australia provides a number of free legal services to people in the community, such as legal information, referral services and minor assistance.

To find the nearest community legal centre, providing free and accessible legal and related services, see National Association of Community Legal Centres.

Tasmania

Family and parenting

Parent Line Tasmania: 1300 808 178 (7 days a week, 24 hours a day).

Health and mental health

Counselling services for survivors of torture and trauma: The Phoenix Centre.

Accommodation

If you are homeless or at risk of homelessness, Housing Connect provides information on emergency accommodation to long-term housing. Call 1800 800 588.

Legal

Legal Aid Commission of Tasmania provides a number of free legal services to people in the community, such as legal information, referral services and minor assistance.

To find the nearest community legal centre, providing free and accessible legal and related services, see National Association of Community Legal Centres.

Victoria

Family and parenting

Parentline Victoria: 13 22 89 (7 days a week, 8am to midnight).

BetterHealth has information about having a baby in Victoria.

Dad ‘n’ Kids program is for fathers and male carers, and their children who are 4 years old or younger. The program is based at centres in Craigieburn and Mernda in Melbourne’s outer north, and at Fitzroy near Melbourne’s CBD.

Caring Dads is a 17-week family violence group-work intervention program in Victoria for fathers who have struggled with their behaviour towards their children and family.

Health and mental health

Counselling services for survivors of torture and trauma: Foundation House – The Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture.

Accommodation

If you are homeless or at risk of homelessness, find crisis and emergency accommodation services. For state-wide after-hours Service call 1800 825 955 or 03 9536 7777.

For information on finding accommodation in Victoria for people from refugee backgrounds, available in English, Arabic and Dari: https://www.ceh.org.au/finding-a-home-in-victoria/

Legal

Victoria Legal Aid provides a number of free legal services to people in the community, such as legal information, referral services and minor assistance.

To find the nearest community legal centre, providing free and accessible legal and related services, see National Association of Community Legal Centres.

Police

To contact police for matters that are not emergencies, you should contact your local police station.

Services for refugees and asylum seekers

The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC) supports people seeking asylum who live in or around Melbourne and who are in the process of, or waiting to apply for a protection visa in Australia. Services include an employment support program, an English program, healthcare, and legal assistance.

Monash Health Refugee Health provides comprehensive primary care services together with tertiary services including infectious diseases, paediatrics and psychiatry.

Cabrini Asylum Seeker and Refugee Health Hub provides comprehensive primary health care and specialist mental health services to people seeking asylum who are Medicare-ineligible or who have Medicare but no income. The Hub primary health care clinic is nurse-led, works in partnership with other asylum seeker agencies, and coordinates care and referrals to community health and specialist services (e.g. dental, optometry, allied health, infectious diseases & paediatrics).

Co-Health provide health and support services in Melbourne's CBD, and northern and western suburbs.

Youth and LGBTQI+ services

The Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne has health services available for children of refugee backgrounds. You can find more information available here or contact here.

Immigrant Health Service – This service is free of charge for all refugee and asylum seeker children and has onsite interpreting services are available. This service includes a weekly outpatient clinic on Mondays from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm at desk A5. This includes a mental health/psychiatry assessment provided by male and female clinicians. Secondary mental health consultations are available and all children within a family can be seen at the same visit. You can contact refugee.fellow@rch.org.au or 9345 5522 for advice or coordination.

Foundation House – Ucan2 – a free education and settlement program to support the social inclusion of recently arrived young people of refugee background aged 16-25. It has a duration of 16 weeks. It also offers mental health and wellbeing support.
For queries you can contact: (03) 9389 8993 or (03) 9389 8933

Queerspace – offers low cost or no cost counselling services for all sections of the LGBTI+ communities. Queerspace counsellors work with children, young people, adults and older people. To access counselling click here.

Queerspace youth – monthly support groups and events for Queer, Trans, non binary, Intersex, Gender Diverse or questioning people aged 18-25 years old. Each event has mental health support workers available that can also assist with referrals to Queerspace services. You can find more information here or contact queerspaceyouth@ds.org.au.

(in)visible – is a community driven program that connects queer and trans people from diverse cultural and religious backgrounds aged 18 -25 through workshops and events. You can find more information here or contact invisible@ds.org.au.

Western Australia

Family and parenting

Parenting WA Line
08 6279 1200 or 1800 654 432 (7 days a week, 8am to 8pm)

Ngala assists parents, carers and families through tools information, workshops and services.

Grandcare Program 1800 008 323 Services for grandparents who are raising their children (full-time) on an informal basis. Monday – Friday, 10 am-3 pm

Health and mental health

Counselling services for survivors of torture and trauma: Association for Services to Torture and Trauma Survivors (ASeTTS)

Multicultural Futures – offers free mental health services for people from migrant or refugee backgrounds. These services include information, referral and support. Interpreters are available contacting the organisation via TIS National. For more information and contact details click here or call 08 9336 8282.

Accommodation

If you are homeless or at risk of homelessness, contact Homelessness Advisory Service 1800 065 892 (Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm). For after-hours Crisis Care Line, call 08 9223 1111.

Legal

Legal Aid Western Australia provides a number of free legal services to people in the community, such as legal information, referral services and minor assistance.

To find the nearest community legal centre, providing free and accessible legal and related services, see National Association of Community Legal Centres.