Lifelinehelpline Opiniones 

What a turn off. I message you and I'm waiting and waiting and waiting. Messaging on my phone. Several mins go by and I close my phone to wait and then I open it and it completely logs me out of the 'conversation ' lol seriously. Stupid

Don't trust these people!

A scam. $600 dollars to be trained to volunteer. It's a business selling a course. As someone who's disabled wanting experience to possibly get a job in the future, the price of volunteering is actually making me depressed lol

I'll just echo what others have said - this service seems to be designed for something other than helping out people in a crisis (taking government money, perhaps?).

I am very concerned about somebody close to me who is experiencing some sort of mental health crisis, and is clearly a danger to themselves, and perhaps others.

So I pour all this out to the 'trained counsellor' I'm speaking to, and the conversation then proceeds almost exactly like this:

Them - "You should talk to the person (experiencing the crisis)."
Me - "Well, yes, but....."
Them - "Ok. Bye."
*click, dial tone*
Me - ".....what if the person is going to top themselves, or wants to stab me in my sleep?"

I wouldn't even mind, but they make such a big deal of their 'trained counsellors', and unfortunately they're more likely to make you feel worse. In my case I was calling about someone else, but what if I had been the one in crisis?

What's the point of having counsellors and a helpline, if their principle aim appears to be to get you off the phone as soon as possible? Do you they have sales numbers of something? Does the counsellor/salesperson win pizza hut vouchers if they churn through the most calls in a day?

Do not talk to these people. They send you an ambulance and demand you go to hospital. FFS

More likely takes more lives than they save. I referred a friend to lifeline after calling them myself on their behalf I asked if they had advocate services to help someone through issues with their landlord they told me that they did have advocate services educate my friend to call. My friend then called them and they told her that basically she has to get her act together and do it herself this push that person to become suicidal rather than just depressed. Lifeline needs to be deregistered as a charity for helping people and they need to change their light name from lifeline to something that doesn't indicate there's going to be a chance of Hope with them. I work with disability and mental health and lifeline is a last place I'd refer someone too. At every training session I've been to and they bring up referring people's lifeline I bring up my experiences and referring other people and the outcomes and there are much better options than lifeline.

I rang lifeline because I was grieving my brother’s death amongst a few less major things. They weren’t interested in hearing why I rang. He then referred me to the suicide callback service saying they were better qualified and offered follow up. I fell for it and called them. He didn’t want to listen to me either and then told me he’d called the police and hung up on me.

Before speaking to Lifeline I always ask if it’s completely anonymous and if they can trace the call. They always say no. Why would anybody be honest if they thought the police could get called anytime??
When the Police arrived they said that both support lines had called them. I had to go to hospital.
This review is to let everyone know that all of the services operated by Lifeline are misrepresenting themselves as being anonymous when they are in fact not. So you need to be careful what you say to them. I feel so betrayed and I will never call any of their services again.

Honestly if I could give zero stars I would. I reached out to lifeline as it felt like my last resort to talk to somebody while I'm feeling suicidal, expecting to get a friendly ear and some helpful advice maybe... Instead I get some self absorbed, apathetic asshat who is clearly not trained at all to help, who told me "that sucks" and "have you tried beyond blue". I said I contacted lifeline because I thought you're meant to help? The reply I got? A "how was our service" survey. He literally closed our chat while I'm pouring my heart out saying I have no one, I'm alone, I'd rather die than feel so worthless. Which actually made me want to kill myself even more. Lucky I'm even here right now to be honest, the service I received this day made me feel like a nuisance, if a suicide prevention line tells me to move along and contact someone else, then what the hell is the point of this suicide line?! Today a dear friend told me that she got told the same thing, a man told her to try contacting beyond blue when she told them she felt like self-harming. All of your staff trained this way? To make mentally ill people feel even worse about their situations? To make us feel like we are a burden just like everyone else does in our life? Great job lifeline, you are most likely 100% the reason a bunch of people have committed suicide because your staff really can't even be bothered to chat to someone in a mental health crisis.

I went to life line staff very friendly I brought a swivel sweeper dirty full Of dust no body knew if it work

Yesterday I felt like I had no other choice so I went on the lifeline website. They trick you into thinking they’ll make you feel better, they mention things like “crisis support and suicide prevention services. We exist so that no person in Australia has to face their darkest moments alone” absolute bullsh!t.

I put myself in so much force to send a text, thinking they’d support me, thinking this was the only choice I had. She’d ask me questions like a robot and while I took my time to answer, she’d say “are you still there?” Like are you telling me to hurry up??

She’d also give useless, effortless advice that made no sense. And at the end I confessed to her I’m suicidal, and she just asked if I’m planning to end my life tonight.. Are you kidding???? All she cared about was whether I lived or not, not about how I felt. That’s not even how suicidal thoughts work, it doesn’t always mean you have a plan to end your life!!!!! Later on she then said “bye and call 000 if you’re in danger.” I was shaking.

This was the first ever time I opened up to somebody and in return I get this response. I felt uneasy, uncomfortable, scared, I thought she was tracking me down, I couldn’t sleep the whole night, made me feel 10x worse. All these 1 star reviews, I wish I read before chatting with lifeline.

I’m so ashamed our country has such poor mental health services. It’s 2025. DO BETTER!!!!

They track your phone. Insane over exaggeration of phone calls! Never to be trusted!! I was told this by the ambo, they are tracking your phone, you can’t escape from apparently.

Dreadful. Absolutely dreadful. Don’t trust this service at all.

Dreadful.. A Sham Of A Service , Run By Amateurs , Who Appear To Have Zero Tact , Training, Blatantly Lacking In Compassion, Integrity Empathy, Time, Or Concern For People Who Are Vulnerable & Suffering With Bona Fide Mental Emotional /Behavioural Based
Disorders, And Acute Emotional Stress & Crises Etc.They Can Be Quite Abrasive & Direct in There Responses, Curt, Obnoxious, Irksome , Rude , Indifferent Manner /Attitudes ,Also The 'Counsellors' Display Quite A Tactless , Surly & Abrupt Deameanor Which Caused Me Additional Agitation, And To Become Uneccesarily Defensive, Causing Further Undue Stress, Anxiety And Frustration . It Feels Like It's A Case Of 'Straight into The Deep End' And Straight For The Jugular..Which Can Cause More Harm Than Good , Emotionally , Especially if Your Ultra Stressed And Sensitive Etc. Also The
'Counsellor's Appears To Be More Preocupied With Pursuing & Abruptly Quizzing You And Needing To Log Your 'Details' And Aquiring 'Hard Data' On Unecessary Personal Content ,
Which Seems Quite Irrelevant- Tiresome, Irritating ,Invasive / Impersonal & Probing,

It Seems That The Person's Personal Details, Are More Important And Outweigh Your Current Mental Health / Current State Of Mind, And There Appears To Be An Absence In Allowing The Person To Talk Openly And Honestly & Actively 'Work Through' And Process There Current Distress, Problems & Personal Difficulties; Etc. And They Then Seem Shocked & Annoyed When You Don't Wish To Reveal Your Name , And Provide So Little , Or Virtually No Amount Of Time For
The Person To Process There Feelings/Moods ,Or Explore There Current Moods,Distress And Crisis ,it Feels Very Contrived &
Rushed, Tiresome, Intense, Unpleasant
Highly Off -Putting And Indifferent , When The Purpose Of The Call is To Seek Solace And Speak With A Trained 'Counsellor' Too Vent Your Feelings & Improve Your Emotional State And Ultimately Prevent Thoughts Of Suicide & Self -Harm ,it Just Feels Almost Like A Sense Of 'Wer'e The 'Bad Guys Here'
And Feels Not Dissimilar To A Police
Verbal Interrogation/ Interview, And Unfortunately Seems To Have The Polar Opposite
Affect Of Actually
Helping You 'Work Through'
Your Pain, Distress And The Current Crisis & Emotional Issue & Anguish. Instead It Ultimately Made Me Feel Invalidated its Very Intrusive And Like Speaking With Daleks. I Stated Several Times Previously On Other Calls That I Possibly Have Adult ASD Or Something
Of its Equivalent , And May Over React And Find Some Questions Invasive Or Difficult And May Miss Social Cues Etc, And Was Then Promptly & Quite Abruptly Continually, Rudely 'Quizzed' By The 'Counsellor (While Still Talking) On My Name , And Was Rudely Asked Almost Barking In A Hostile And Brusque/Coercive , Contrived Tone & Manner, With 'Have I Called The Service Before' ..Which
I Then Instantly Felt Uncomfortable Answering And it Made Me Feel Uneasy Aggravated & More Generally More Stressed, Dysregulated Invalidated & Angry.
I Ultimately Thus Felt More Agitated, Disgruntled & Invalidated , Dysregulated, Deflated And Aggravated By Being 'Talked -Over' By The 'Counsellor'.
I Understand That They Need To Ask
These Questions, Ultimately , However They Should & Could Be Asked /Phrased /Conducted in A Somewhat More Tactful,Less Rigid ,Delicate-Semi Hostile Patient, Pleasant, Courteous ,Sensitive , Empathetic ,Concerned And Eleoquent Tone & Manner, Considering
They Are Dealing With People In Acute Emotional Distress And Intense Degrees Of Psychological Despair And Are Therefore Ultimatately Considerably Vulnerable, Alone , Disturbed And Sensitive Etc , And Also As They Are Considered To Be A Mental Health/ 'Suicide Prevention' Charity Staffed By 'Counsellors' Ultimately. All The Call Done Was Unfortunately Prompted An Angry And Extremely, Frustrated, Distasteful, Reaction Which Was Treated With Instant Indifference and I Swiftly Got Read The 'Riot Act' On Abusive Behaviour Etc. At That Point I Was Extremely Distressed And Extremely Dysregulated, Feeling More Agitated And Of An Inconvience Than Anything . Very Little , Tact Or No Empathy Or Understanding, At All Of Mental Disorders And Emotional Distress .Awful Experience & Service.

Seriously, f this service. Don't even bother.

I already have problems asking for help, and when I can, I have serious issues talking about my problems because I usually get angry.

While I was in the middle of writing a text reply, I receive a message after five minutes basically saying if I don't reply soon, they'll end the conversation.

I know they have a lot of people that they probably need to tend to, and only so many operators to do so, but a person going through serious problems may need a lot more time than 5 minutes to work up the courage to send the next message.

Getting something like that, is a great way to invalidate their troubles, being told hurry up or your problems can stay yours basically. Make them feel like they aren't worth helping, that all they're doing is wasting people's time.

Reading through all of these reviews, makes me kinda want to work at lifeline, on the off chance someone gets transferred to me and I'll actually give a cuss word and help them.

Be very careful

I used to call and would speak with some phenomenal individuals. Never had any issues, and was even commended by them for how well I would be handling what ever distress I was experiencing.

However, Lifeline has recently updated their policies as of August 2024 (was unaware).

What does this mean? When I phoned this morning (distressed) I had phoned in transit (not at home). It was taking a while to get through (understandable). I was already in a heightened state, so I placed the phone hands free then started driving home. I accidentally drove in to a tunnel. By the time a crises supporter answered I was even more anxious. She laughed at me when I told her what had happened (without even having gone in to why I had originally called), then asked me to pull over in a tunnel (there is no where to stop) or to simply call back. I got upset driving now in a tunnel and being asked to call back (let alone laughed at) I told her the wait times to call are so long, I don't want to call back and I am distressed now, she hung up. When she hung up a new automated response played 'This is a misuse of the service which is against the law, your details may be forwarded to local authorities including the police.' This absolutely made my anxiety sky rocket. I did not stop shaking or feeling physically ill after that.

I waited to call back, when calmer to debrief later on in the day. I was not responded to the second time but got through on the third. I voiced my concern to the person who took my call about the incident.

The person proceeded to judge me, he assumed I had used my phone when driving even though I clarified I hadn't. Then, when I voiced my concerns about the new automation and how anxiety inducing it was, (as there is no way until if and when authorities contact you to know if that person has forwarded your details to them) he hung up and the same automation played.

I decided to look up their policy. You can no longer phone more than once. They now must be tracking calls so if you call more than 5 times (which I had despite only being answered twice) It is noted on their system. That in itself can be deemed an abuse of their policy. They will not take responsibility on their end. If they don't like what you are saying regardless if you are distressed and disagree and especially if you show emotion they can accuse you of being abusive, they can hang up and you will now be threatened through this automation. They can accuse you of illegally calling and you may be contacted by the police.

I have made a complaint to lifeline and was never contacted back in regards to how I was treated.

Don't bother calling Lifeline. Save yourself the trouble and call another free suicide prevention service like Beyond Blue.

The person I spoke to sounded flat like a robot. Every sentence I spoke she said 'oh...' in a robotic voice, then waited for me to say something else. It was awful, I was talking about my desire to suicide and I couldn't feel any empathy. I just hung up.

I rang this useless service because I was concerned about an elderly neighbor who is living alone with serious dementia. I asked which service I should call, and the obviously uncaring operator told me to ring the police or her GP! I have no idea who this lady's GP is.

This "charity" organization receives millions of dollars every year and exploits volunteers and jobseekers to provide a substandard service.

Utterly disgraceful!

They pretend to care, but they don’t. They stick to their script and cut you off when they’re finished with you, not when you’re feeling better. All they do is give you more reasons to kill yourself.

I was at local Life Line at Goonellabah NSW was going to purchase 2 items one was $10 dollars i placed on counter and continued looking. I went to pay for item only to find out the cashier said i cant sell it at that price. It was a plate with dot painting on it. I was told that the person might be dead and its worth a lot more, i was denied sale and accused of changing price. THere are camers in shop so i asked them to review them so they back peddled on that one. Still denying sale to me. The item was on a shelf for sale with a price on it consumer law entitles me to purchase at that price. These stores are given items and all they want to do is squeeze as much money as possible. This has really put a bad taste in my mouth i have donated boxes of thing over the years in future they will be given to a tip. Item's given to this organisation are priced over the amount for people it was intended and meant for.

I called for advice about a toxic relationship, but all I got was affirmation about my feelings, no advice, almost no understanding of the situation, only acknowledgement of my emotions of the situation, at the end of the conversation the respondent asked if I was going to commit suicide, when I said no she terminated the call.

I'm really struggling with this and have nobody else I can turn to, I feel let down and ignored, I feel like the respondent wasn't equipped with the knowledge or experience to help me and it's left me with the same despair as when I first called.