Mental health and social and emotional wellbeing supports

When these feelings of sadness, worry, or “not quite right-ness” don’t go away, it can be helpful to seek support. For most people who are in this position, support can be accessed through a range of mental health and social and emotional wellbeing services.

It is recommended that your GP (doctor) is your first point of contact to access mental health services. For more information about visiting your GP, click here.

There are a range of types of mental health services that you can access in the community. These include counselling services, support groups and day to day support. There are different benefits to each of these options:

• Counselling services can be helpful if you want to talk to someone (such as a social worker, counsellor, psychologist or psychiatrist) in a safe and supportive environment to help you better understand your mental health needs and identify ways to manage any challenges that you may be experiencing.
• Support groups might appeal to you if you would like to meet and talk to a group of people with similar experiences, and share information, stories, problems and strategies.
• Day to day support is for people whose mental illness is having an impact on their daily life or their ability to achieve their goals (e.g. assistance with managing daily tasks, finding employment or making connections with family and friends).

For people whose mental health needs have not been met in the community and are presenting with more severe symptoms and require intensive clinical support, you can access support from the hospital.

Hospital support is typically accessed through a referral by your doctor, however you can also contact them directly. The hospital will then refer you to the appropriate specialist mental health service.

The hospitals in eastern and north-eastern Melbourne include:

• Austin Health - North East Psychiatric Triage Service
• Eastern Health - Psychiatric Triage Service
• Monash Health - Psychiatric Triage Service
• North Western Mental Health - Triage Service
• St Vincent's Health - Psychiatric Triage Service

Please note that Psychiatric Triage Lines at hospitals are not emergency services. If you or someone's life is in danger, call 000.

In addition to the community and hospital supports, you can access a range of mental health support and information available online. A number of recommended resources have been included here.

You can also join online forums, connect with counsellors through webchat, or speak to someone by calling a helpline. Many of these supports are available 24 hours a day.