General support and counselling numbers

Alcohol and drugs

• Alcoholics Anonymous. Phone: 02 9799 1199
• Family Drug Support. Phone: 02 4782 9222 or 1300 368 186
• Narcotics Anonymous. Phone: 02 9212 3444

Domestic violence

• Domestic Violence Line. Available 24 hours. Phone: 1800 656 463
• Domestic Violence Advocacy Service. Services for women and children seeking help and information about how to get protection from the court from domestic violence. Phone: 1300 888 529
• Full Stop. Available 24 hours. Phone: 1800 385 578
• Victim’s Services. Phone: 1800 633 063

For more help, services, support and information, see the domestic and family violence section.

Financial support

• Department of Human Services (Centrelink) - Family and parenting payments. Phone: 13 61 50 (For multilingual support call 13 12 02)
• National Debt Helpline. Financial counselling services for free help managing your money and debt. Available Monday - Friday 9.30am-4.30pm. Phone: 1800 007 007

General support and counselling

• Mission Australia Helpline. Phone: 1300 886 999
• CatholicCare Relationship Counselling. Phone: 13 18 19
• Lifeline. Phone: 13 11 14
• Relationships Australia. Phone: 02 9418 8800 or 1300 364 277
• MensLine Australia. Telephone and online counselling service for men with family and relationship concerns. Phone: 1300 78 99 78

Health emergencies

In an emergency or life-threatening situation, call 000 immediately.

• Children’s Hospital Randwick. Phone: 02 9382 1111
• Children’s Hospital Westmead. Phone: 02 9845 0000
• Kidsafe. Phone: 02 9845 0890
• Poisons Information. Phone: 13 11 26

Homelessness and housing

If you are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless, there are a range of housing options available, including social housing and specialist support for children and young people aged 12 to 15 years.

If you need to leave a violent situation because of domestic and family violence there are emergency and long term housing available. Help is also available 24/7 through the Domestic Violence Line on 1800 656 436

• Link2home Homelessness. 24 hours emergency accommodation assistance. Phone: 1800 152 152
• Wesley Inner West Youth, Homelessness Outreach Program. Phone: 02 9716 0263
• Inner West Youth Homelessness Service. Phone: 02 8217 4700
• Ask Izzy is a web-based app that can help you find the services you need, including housing, meals, healthcare, counselling, legal advice, addiction treatment and a whole lot more. It is free and anonymous, and if you’re on the Telstra mobile network, you can access Ask Izzy even if you don’t have credit.

Mental health and wellbeing

• When a mental health condition is combined with alcohol and drug use
• COPMI. The Children of Parents with a Mental Illness national initiative creates mental health information and resources for Australian parents, children, families, carers and health professionals who work with them
• Beyond Blue.

Raising children and teenagers

• Child Support (Department of Human Services). Australian Government Department of Human Services’ child support site. Assisting separated parents with information, payments and support and information about child support choices available to you
• COPMI. The Children of Parents with a Mental Illness national initiative creates mental health information and resources for Australian parents, children, families, carers and health professionals who work with them
• Dads Online. Australian-based interactive website for separated dads, offering online support and a chance to share stories, ideas and activities and events relevant to Australian dads.
• Family Relationships Online. Family Relationships Online is a key component in Government support for building better family relationships. It provides all families (whether together or separated) with access to information about family relationship issues, ranging from building better relationships to dispute resolution. It also allows families to find out about a range of services that can assist them to manage relationship issues, including agreeing on appropriate arrangements for children after parents separate.
• Karitane. 24 hour parenting information and counselling. Phone: 02 9794 1852 or 1800 677 96
• MensLine Australia. Telephone and online counselling for offering qualified counsellors that specialise in family and relationship issues, including relationship breakdown, separation and divorce, parenting, family violence, suicide prevention and emotional well-being.
• Parent Line NSW. Telephone counselling, information and referral service for parents, carers and professionals who have concerns about a child aged 0 to 18 years. 9am - 9pm Monday to Friday; 4pm - 9pm weekends; closed public holidays. No more than the cost of a local call (note: some mobile providers can charge higher rates for calls to 1300 numbers). Phone: 1300 1300 52
• Raising Children Network. The complete Australian resource for parenting newborns to teens. The site has a wealth of parenting information and resources for mothers, fathers, grandparents and anyone else who has responsibility for the care of children and includes a large and active forum.
• ReachOut Parents. Web-based service providing information, tools and resources to help parents and carers support 12 to 18 year-olds in their family environment. Parents will find fact sheets, stories, practical tips and tools covering a range of topics, issues and experiences that are relevant to parents of teenagers.
• Stepfamilies Australia. Stepfamilies Australia is committed to strengthening stepfamilies. The website contains various useful resources, including tip sheets, information packs, articles and booklist as well as counselling, support groups and other forms of support for stepfamilies.
• Tresillian. Phone: 1300 272 736. Information and counselling for parents or carers of children under five years. Open 7am-11pm Mon-Sun.
• Triple P Parenting program. Phone: 1800 789 123. The Triple P positive parenting program is for parents with children aged 3 to 8 years. The program gives you the tools to encourage behaviour you like from your child, deal positively and consistently with problem behaviour, take the stress out of parenting. Triple P can also help to develop family relationships assisting children to reach their full potential.