| Lifeline |
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Lifeline is a non-profit, free 24-hour Telephone Crisis Support service in Australia. Volunteer Crisis Supporters provide suicide prevention services, mental health support and emotional assistance, not only via telephone but face-to-face and online.
The telephone service can be accessed by calling 13 11 14 within Australia.
Lifeline has been providing services to people experiencing personal crisis for more than 50 years.
Lifeline Centres are maintained by trained volunteers and some paid staff. March 2012, there were more than 40 Lifeline Centres in 60 locations around Australia. With 11,000 volunteers deliver support services,approx. 1000 staff provide admin' and fundraising co-ordination. Lifeline receives more than 400,000 calls every year.
Lifeline was founded in Sydney, New South Wales in 1963 by the late Reverend Dr. Sir Alan Walker after a call from a distressed man who three days later took his own life. Determined not to let loneliness, isolation and anxiety be the cause of other deaths, Sir Alan launched a crisis line which initially operated out of the Methodist Central Mission.
Lifeline Sydney was two years in planning and preparation, with 150 people attending a nine-month training course to work at the Centre. A century old, dilapidated building owned by the Mission, on the fringes of downtown Sydney was renovated for the purposes of this new support centre. A staff of full-time employees was appointed to direct the work of these new telephone crisis support 'workers'.
The Director General of Post and Telephone Services authorised that this crisis support service should be listed on the Emergency Page of the Telephone Directory and the phones were installed. The initiative was well received with over 100 calls for help being answered on the first day. The first call came one minute after the lines were opened and the phones have never stopped ringing.
In January 1964, Lifeline was featured in an article in TIME magazine, which helped lead to the establishment of similar services around the world. The first international convention of Lifeline was held in Sydney in August 1966 to guide the development of Lifeline services and to establish quality standards, which led to the formation of Lifeline International.
Wikipedia - History |