If things feel heavy, you don’t have to carry them alone.

Living through a time this strange can stir up a lot: fear, grief, sleeplessness, a sense of unreality, or just a heaviness that won’t lift. Reaching out for support is not weakness. It’s one of the wisest and highest-frequency things a person can do.

Open Frequencies offers orientation, perspective, and a friendly ear, but it is not a crisis service or a substitute for professional care. The services below are. Please use them whenever you need to.

If you’re in crisis or thinking about harming yourself

Please reach out right now. You deserve support, and help is available.

In an emergency (Australia)

Call 000 for immediate danger.

Lifeline (Australia), 24/7 crisis support

Call 13 11 14, or text/chat via lifeline.org.au.

13YARN, 24/7 support for Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people

Call 13 92 76.

Outside Australia: contact your local emergency number, or find a crisis line in your country at findahelpline.com. [Editor: confirm this directory and add your visitors’ key regions.]

Ongoing mental-health support

If you’re not in crisis but things have been hard for a while, with low mood, anxiety, trouble functioning, or leaning on alcohol or other substances to cope, these are good places to start.

Beyond Blue (Australia)

Information and 24/7 support for anxiety, depression, and general wellbeing. Call 1300 22 4636 or visit beyondblue.org.au.

Your GP or doctor

An ordinary first step that’s easy to overlook. A GP can talk through what’s going on and connect you with longer-term support, including a mental-health care plan.

A counsellor or psychologist

Talking with a trained professional over time can make a real difference. [Editor: consider linking a reputable directory for finding a therapist in your main regions.]

Steadying yourself day to day

Alongside professional support, the simple things genuinely help: regular sleep and meals, time outdoors, gentle movement, limiting the news to set times, and staying connected to people you trust. Our Start Here page has easy first steps, and Understanding Frequency covers the gentle inner practices, always alongside good care, never instead of it.

And if you’d just like to talk it through, not in crisis, just finding the strangeness of it all a lot, you’re welcome to reach out to me for a no-pressure chat over a coffee, a pint in Canberra, or online. That’s never a replacement for the services above, but sometimes a real conversation with someone who gets it is exactly what helps.The services on this page are independent of Open Frequencies and are listed for your convenience. We do our best to keep them accurate. If you spot an error, please tell us. Last reviewed: [insert date].