Thanks to a partnership between Lifeline and Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC), Hunter Valley residents that are seeking help post-floods have the option of reaching out to Lifeline for face-to-face counselling, at no cost to the recipient.

The partnership between ARTC and Lifeline has been in place for over a year and is instrumental in providing essential support to the Hunter Valley region in the form of face-to-face counselling.

Lifeline Counselling is an additional service to Lifeline’s 13 11 14 crisis support line and the funding provided by ARTC allows those in need to access counselling at no cost and with no referral required from a GP.

ARTC suffered significant damage and disruption from the latest floods and so they know firsthand how hard it can be to rebuild and recover. Wayne Johnson, Group Executive Hunter Valley Network, ARTC says they understand what a tough time the Hunter Valley has been through and wanted to help in a meaningful way.

“ARTC is proud to be able to continue our partnership with Lifeline enabling the delivery of the face-to-face counselling service which is instrumental in supporting the mental health and wellbeing of people across the Hunter region, as they cope with the last few years and more recently, many people in the region impacted by the floods,” said Wayne.

“ARTC’s core value of ‘No Harm’ goes hand-in-hand with Lifeline’s purpose and proactive work they do in increasing and maintaining the discussion around mental health, and making sure it’s an open discussion across this region.

“Through ARTC’s partnership with Lifeline we aim to highlight their important work, so that more people across the Hunter can access these essential services across the regions in which we operate.”

Robert Sams, CEO Lifeline Hunter said that the support from ARTC is vital for Lifeline to be able to continue their free face-to-face counselling program.

“The devastating flooding events in our region have increased demand for support from Lifeline within the Hunter.

“Private counselling and psychology can be expensive for people and there are long wait lists for public counselling, so Lifeline’s service fills a much-needed gap for the community.”