The 1800 011 511 Mental Health Line is NSW Health's 24/7 statewide phone service which links people with NSW Health mental health services. It is a free service.
It is staffed by trained mental health professionals who:
The mental health professional will ask you questions to understand your needs and recommend appropriate services.
You may want to contact the NSW Mental Health Line if you are worried about your own or someone else's mental health. This may be due to:
The NSW Mental Health Line can help you understand the right service for you or the person you are concerned about.
Health professionals (e.g. psychiatrists, psychologists, GPs, school counsellors), NGO workers and first responders may also contact the NSW Mental Health Line to find out which service might be best for your patient/client and what options are available.
If someone has attempted, or is at immediate risk of attempting to harm themselves or someone else, call Triple Zero (000) immediately.
The NSW Mental Health Line is staffed by trained mental health professionals who can:
If the mental health professional is concerned about your immediate safety, they may ask you to go to your nearest Emergency Department (ED). If you can't get to an ED yourself, they may call Emergency Services to take you to the ED.
The mental health professional will ask you for your name, contact details, address and date of birth. They will need this information to check if you have a health record. If you don't, they will create a health record for you.
This information will also help services contact you for an appointment and in case of an emergency.
The mental health professional will ask you questions about how you are feeling and what is happening for you. Sometimes it can be scary or overwhelming to talk about these things, so take your time and try to give as much information as you can.
It may feel uncomfortable being asked certain questions, but the mental health professional wants to help you find the services that may assist you.
Next steps after you contact the NSW Mental Health Line will depend on your situation. The mental health professional will discuss services within or outside of the public mental health service that may assist you.
When you call about another person, the mental health professional will ask you:
Where it is appropriate and safe to do so, it is helpful to let the person know that you are calling the Mental Health Line on their behalf.
If the person is with you, the mental health professional may ask to speak with them directly to understand more about what is going on for them.
NSW Health aims to keep your information confidential but there are situations where our staff may have to safely share your information. This will be explained to you on the call.
Our staff may need to share relevant information so that support, care and treatment can be arranged. This may include sharing information with other health services involved in your care or with other services that can help prevent a life-threatening situation or significant harm from occurring.
Our staff are legally required to share information with other services in certain situations. This includes when a serious crime like sexual assault, domestic violence or child protection concerns has been disclosed.
Please refer to the NSW Health Privacy Leaflet for Patients for more information on how NSW Health is required to protect your health information. It also explains in which situations NSW Health can legally use and disclose health information.
A mental health crisis may include feeling like you can't keep yourself or others safe immediately.
If you think there is an immediate threat or risk of harm to yourself or others, call Emergency Services on Triple 0 (000).
If you don't think the situation is immediately unsafe, you can contact the NSW Mental Health Line to speak with a trained mental health professional. They will ask you questions about how you are feeling and discuss services that may assist.
If the mental health professional is concerned about yours or someone else's immediate safety, they may recommend you contact Emergency Services on Triple 0 (000) or go to your nearest Emergency Department (ED).
The NSW Mental Health Line provides a culturally safe service for people who identify as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander.
You can also call 13YARN (13 92 76). 13YARN is a crisis support line for mob who are feeling overwhelmed or having difficulty coping. It is a free and confidential service available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from any mobile or pay phone. You can talk with an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Crisis Supporter about your worries or concerns without judgement and in a culturally safe space. Find out more about 13YARN
The NSW Mental Health Line is provided in English.
If you prefer to speak in another language, you can speak with the mental health professional through the Translating and Interpreting service (TIS National). Please call TIS on 131 450 and ask them to ring the NSW Mental Health line on 1800 011 511.
You can also prebook an interpreter online using the TIS National Pre booked phone interpreter form.
You can also contact the Transcultural Mental Health Line (TMHL) on 1800 648 911. The TMHL is a telephone service to support people who are from culturally and linguistically diverse communities. You can speak with a clinician who understands your culture and can communicate in your language. They can:
Find out more about the TMHL.
If you are deaf or have difficulty hearing or speaking, you can talk to a mental health professional through the National Relay Service (NRS) on the below details:
The NRS is a phone/internet solution for people who are deaf or have difficulty hearing or speaking. For more information, see NRS Information.
Yes. The NSW Mental Health Line is available to people of all ages.
If you are looking for a service that offers short-term counselling for children and younger people (aged 5 – 25 years), you may want to contact Kids Helpline. Kids Helpline offers free, confidential 24/7 online and phone counselling. You can call Kids Helpline on 1800 551 800 or chat Kids Helpline - webchat counselling.
Public mental health services are mental health services provided through public hospitals and community mental health services. They are free.
Public mental health services support people with their mental health recovery to manage self-care, improve social and relationship skills and achieve broader quality of life via physical health, social connectedness, housing, education and employment.
Public mental health services are available for children and adolescents, adults and older people.
The NSW Mental Health Line connects people with a trained mental health professional who will complete a brief mental health assessment and recommend services for appropriate care. This may include referral to a NSW Health public mental health service, where appropriate.
The NSW Mental Health Line is not a counselling or one-off crisis support service. However, the mental health professionals can suggest other services that offer this type of support, if this is what is needed.
Phone and digital mental health services such as Lifeline and Beyond Blue provide access to counsellors or crisis support workers who are trained to provide short-term counselling support. If this is what you are looking for, you can call:
If you are looking for 24/7 counselling and crisis support services, you can contact these services:
or text on 0477 131 114.
Search Medicare Mental Health for information on helplines, apps, digital programs and resources or call on 1800 595 212 from 8:30am to 5pm Monday to Friday.
