A Lifeline for the Hunter

Lifeline Newcastle & Hunter has been operating a 24 Hour Telephone Counselling Service in the Hunter since 1966. The service provides the opportunity for people to reach out and speak to another person knowing that they will be heard, treated respectfully and with full anonymity and confidentiality. Our unique position as the "ears" of Newcastle and the Hunter allows us to identify and react to the specific needs of our community.

As an extension of our crisis telephone counselling service and in response to the needs that we have identified in our community, Lifeline Newcastle & Hunter provides Personal Counselling, Financial and Gambling Counselling as well as Community Education Programs designed to enhance living skills and improve self-confidence.

Community Training

Lifeline Newcastle & Hunter provides a range of services to relieve the stress and pain of the people of Newcastle & Hunter.

Register now for:

• Accidental Counsellor Training
• Mindfulness Meditation

The Toby Fund

Toby Lee Smith was born in Newcastle in 1970.

Toby was a caring, giving, kind passionate person as well as a talented musician and graphic designer. He was much loved by his family and friends.

For reasons unknown, Toby took his own life in 2005.

The devastating effect of his suicide on his family and friends has left them grieving and wondering why he did not speak to someone before taking such a final step.

Lifeline Newcastle & Hunter, with the blessing of Toby's family have established the Toby Fund to inform and educate the community about suicide.

Education Helps Break the Cycle

Lifeline takes seriously the need to educate our telephone counsellors, personal counsellors and the community in general about what we can do to identify a person at risk of suicide. The training educates participants to reach out and offer support to people who are at risk of suicide and offer hope at this difficult time. Subsequently they can refer people at risk to the Life Matters program at Lifeline and/or link them with other community services.

How we do this:

• We train 90-100 new telephone counsellors every year with specialist training in suicide
• intervention.
  
• We send staff and volunteers away to become specialist suicide intervention trainers.
  
• We go into the community, to universities, companies from the Newcastle, Lower and Upper Hunter areas, community groups and organisations to give SAFE TALK and ASIST training.

ASIST: A two day intensive training course in suicide intervention.
SAFE TALK: 3 hour presentation on suicide alertness.

How you can help
Donations or funds raised for the Toby Fund are used in three ways:

• All manuals for the Telephone Counsellor training course are paid for by the Toby Fund.
  
• On-going training and expansion of the number of facilitators who educate the community about Suicide Intervention and Prevention
  
• Subsidised course fees for a number of trainee Telephone Counsellor graduates per year.

You may...

• Donate directly to the Toby Fund.
  
• Sponsor a telephone counsellor for $400.00 a year (Counsellors sign for a minimum 2 year service)
  
• Arrange a direct Debit from your account to Lifeline.
  
• Leave a bequest to Lifeline Newcastle and Hunter for suicide prevention.
  Call or email us today for more information.