Barbeques Galore has been side by side with Australians in helping to create the great Aussie BBQ experience for 45 years, celebrating the iconic barbeque and the role it plays in creating social unity and bringing people together to build genuine social connection and hold authentic conversations.
Two-thirds of Australians own a barbeque, making it the ideal centrepiece for Australian men to gather around side-to-side and talk openly about their mental health with their mates.
Angus McDonald, Barbeques Galore CEO, said that the barbeque makes a great setting to check in with each other and have meaningful conversations.
“Standing around the barbeque can be a safe space to talk, to listen and to understand. It is a place where you can feel safe to let down your guard and connect with those you trust and care about most. While a barbeque’s sizzle sounds in the background, it’s the perfect time to reach out and ask for help, confide or seek support,” said Mr McDonald.
“This partnership is a very special one as it encourages Australians to connect side-by-side. There is this ‘conversational safe-space’ that surrounds a barbeque, creating the perfect time and environment to really connect. The partnership with Lifeline allows us to join together in encouraging Aussies to ‘Take 10’ and come together.”
Colin Seery, Lifeline Australia CEO, said that standing around the grill offers a great chance to connect, listen and support each other without fear of judgement or shame.
“This is all about helping people make that first step, which is often the hardest one. All it takes is ten minutes to cook, ten minutes to chat, and ten seconds to call.”
“This partnership with Barbeques Galore is all about breaking down the stigma around asking for help – and that can be as simple as having a yarn over a snag.”
Woolworths’ funding of three initiatives over the past four years has helped Lifeline to ramp up crisis support services and work closely with communities recovering from drought and natural disasters.
Lifeline receives more than one million requests for help a year from people in crisis. These calls are answered by our highly trained and skilled volunteers. Lifeline crisis supporters receive extensive training before they’re fully qualified—in fact, it takes more than 170 hours over 12 months to train each and every volunteer. And Lifeline trains around 1200 new volunteers each year.
The generous support of the Packer Family Foundation has enabled Lifeline to train 200 Crisis Supporters and answer the calls of 25,641 Australians in crisis, ensuring Lifeline is available for people in crisis, wherever and whenever they need it.
IAG's NRMA Insurance business and RACV have joined forces to provide funding to Lifeline Australia to help enable critical tele-health suicide prevention services for vulnerable communities affected by the summer bushfires and COVID-19.
The joint NRMA Insurance and RACV funding will enable:
RACV has given additional funding to extend the operating hours of the Lifeline text service from midnight-to-dawn for 6 months, commencing October 2021. This is the first time the service will run overnight and will mean any Australian can text the service to receive access to a qualified crisis supporter. This funding comes at a crucial time and will help ensure all Australians can receive support 24/7.
The Buildcorp Foundation’s mission is to provide a common vehicle to maximise the collective, giving spirit of their team and business partners, to those initiatives and organisations dear to the Buildcorp community. Buildcorp Foundation has been supporting Lifeline since 2015.
According to the Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention, men aged 15 to 24 working in construction are twice as likely as other young males in the community to take their own lives. They're also six times more likely to die from suicide than from a workplace accident.
The Foundation has so far enabled the recruitment, training, and technology needed for additional telephone Crisis Supporters, helping Lifeline respond to the increasing number of requests for help received each day.
Most recently Buildcorp has joined a number of leading corporates to support the establishment and launch of a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week, bushfire crisis helpline to support the thousands of Australians affected by the 2020 Summer fires. The helpline is providing dedicated bushfire assistance through on-the-ground support teams and the provision of the new 13 HELP (13 43 57) phone line.
Together, nib foundation and Lifeline Australia are helping to ensure there is a complete safety net of crisis and non-crisis support, whether that be through phone, chat and text services, or self-led tools and resources.
With a focus on prevention, nib foundation has committed $750,000 over the next three years to Lifeline to develop their online self-help toolkit. The toolkit will enable users to take ownership of their experience and navigate self-help resources, articles, stories and support tools that they can use every day to maintain their mental health and wellbeing.
This builds on nib’s support in 2020, which helped Lifeline Australia expand Lifeline Text, to meet the increased demand for mental health support during the COVID-19 pandemic. This included 10,000 additional crisis interventions on top of other crisis support services and the recruitment and training of 60 new volunteers.
rebel and Lifeline Australia have teamed up with the shared goal of ending suicide in Australia. The organisations will work together to communicate the benefits of sport and exercise for boosting mental health, while raising funds for Lifeline to continue their critical work. The partnership recognises the powerful, positive impact of sport on mental health and suicide prevention.
Mental Health is the biggest issue across AFL clubs and playing groups, the wellbeing of everyone involved in the game is a “growing focus’ for the league.
Through AFL’s support of Lifeline, together we want to reduce the stigma of mental health issues and promote mental health and wellbeing for football communities.
AFL is supporting the Lifeline network through Club, community engagement, education, and importantly, fundraising. With the AFL’s support, we will be able to both increase the number of volunteers we can recruit and train each year and extend Lifeline services, including new channels like Lifeline Text so that we can answer every call for help.
Established in 2016, Domino’s registered charity Give for Good along with its franchisees and employees is committed to supporting the communities in which they operate throughout Australia.
With around 80 per cent of its own workforce under the age of 25 and mental health being such a significant issue for its customers and team members, Domino’s and Give for Good is passionate about increasing access to mental health support and suicide prevention for all Australians, especially young people.
This new partnership will play a vital role in supporting Lifeline to increase services to reach all Australians in crisis, in whichever platform they feel comfortable, anytime, anywhere.
Give for Good is contributing $750,000 over three years to help fund the phased roll-out of the text support service across Australia as part of Lifeline’s digital transformation.
Accor Hotels has been a key partner in supporting Lifeline’s Digital transformation aiming to assist help seekers to reach Lifeline anytime, anywhere and on the platform they feel most comfortable. Through our shared vision of an Australia free of suicide, Accor’s funding to date has allowed us to support some of Australia’s most at-risk communities through Lifeline Text. They continue to fund our digital support service development as Lifeline expands its text footprint.
As an essential service provider to millions of Australian homes and businesses, the safety and wellbeing of customers and team members is a key priority for AGL.
AGL has joined with Lifeline to support the growth of Lifeline-Text to a 24/7 national service over the next year. Their support will help in developing the platform, training, and delivery of Lifeline Text to scale the service and increase the number of crisis supporters and users. The aim is to make Lifeline Text as integral to Australians as the Lifeline 13 11 14 service.
Established in 2010, Liptember is a month-long campaign run throughout September aimed at raising funds and awareness for women’s mental health. Women are urged to purchase and wear the official lipstick throughout the month, gaining sponsorship from family, friends, and co-workers. Lifeline is delighted to have been a beneficiary from the very beginning.
The contributions of the campaign to date has supported 35,000 life-saving calls, supporting their goal to encourage and inspire people to listen, share and learn.
Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation (CSC) has a vision to build, support and protect better retirement outcomes for our customers and their families. At CSC, mental health can profoundly impact people’s lives now and in retirement - particularly for CSC’s members in the Australian Public Service and Defence Force.
The CSC and Lifeline partnership is part of CSC’s commitment to work with trusted organisations that offer value to customers and their families, allowing CSC to give back to our community in ways that matter.
The partnership will support Lifeline in answering every call for help and will also work to destigmatise mental ill-health, engage CSC staff and customers in the mental health conversation, ultimately improving the wellbeing of some of the most vulnerable in our community.
Rural and regional communities around Australia continue to face the devastating consequences of extreme climate conditions and the subsequent financial pressures these disasters effect on these communities, with survey results showing 75% of farmers have experienced unusually high periods of emotional stress and upheaval.
NutrienAg Solutions has significantly contributed to crisis support and suicide in drought-affected areas through the distribution of the Lifeline Drought Tool Kit and through their support of community Gatekeeper training
Community members with regular access to locals are prioritised for crisis support training so they can be equipped with the skills to recognise changes in behaviour that may indicate a person is at-risk and be able to respond and refer appropriately. Publicans and rural fire service members were invited to participate in the training pilot run by Lifeline Central West and results were immediate and lifesaving.