About Lifeline North West NSW
LIFELINE NORTH WEST NSW - SERVING THE PEOPLE OF NORTH, NORTH WEST AND AND THE NEW ENGLAND REGIONS OF NEW SOUTH WALES
Lifeline North West NSW is a community based Association which commenced operation on 17th September 1972 known as Lifeline Tamworth.
The Association was created to provide a 24 hour 7 day per week telephone counselling service to the North, Northwest and New England regions of New South Wales. This has remained the principal objective of the Association to this time.
All telephone counsellors are trained accredited and donate their services to the Association. Without this voluntary participation the service could not be provided.
All activities of the Centre must comply with national standards set by Lifeline Australia especially in the area of telephone counselling. Substantial training is required of the volunteer counsellors before they are permitted to commence taking calls.
The volunteers must also undertake regular skill updates to maintain their accreditation as counsellors.
In June 2003 a sub-centre was established in Armidale together with a “Lifeline Shop” in the main CBD area. The Lifeline shop has been relocated to the suburb of Girraween in January 2007. This centre continues to operate in conjunction with, and as part of, Lifeline North West NSW.
Lifeline North West NSW has three other shops: Manilla, one in Hill Street and one in the Robert Street Shopping Centre. Feasibility studies are currently being developed for the opening of other Lifeline Shops in our regional area.
The area serviced by Lifeline North West NSW is that area covered by the 0267 telephone area code and comprises a resident population of approximately 180,000 people.
All calls for help from this area on the national 131 114 number are first directed to Lifeline Tamworth and Armidale for the cost of a local call. Our trained counsellors handle approximately 4,000 calls from this region per annum. Those calls relate to matters such as suicide, domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, child endangerment, grief, and addiction.
As a Public Benevolent Institute the Association established ‘Lifeline Shops” to generate the majority of funds required to support the Telephone Counselling service. Whilst these shops are under the supervision of an Employee (Retail Operations Manager) they are operated by volunteers without whose support the funds could not be generated.
Lifeline Is Here to Help
Lifeline North West NSW is always looking for ways to improve its service to the people of this region. If you have any feedback, comments, concerns or suggestions let us know.
Lifeline North West NSW
(PO Box 3073 West Tamworth NSW 2340)
63 Denne Street Tamworth NSW 2340
t: 02 6765 6172
f: 02 6762 3918
e: lifelinetamworth@bigpond.com
Armidale Centre
115 Butler Street Armidale 2350
t: 02 6771 3372
f: 02 6771 3499