Eligibility for Service
To access Regional Access phone and online counselling service, you will need to:
- Reside or work in regional South Australia
- You can check which PHN you are part of by visiting Department of Health PHN Locator
- For phone counselling and online chat you must be 15 years or over
- Currently residing in Australia.
Regional Access is operated by professional counsellors at Lifeline. For more information about Lifeline, visit the website.
Please note that Regional Access is not a crisis service.
If you need to contact someone urgently, please call:
- Lifeline on 13 11 14
- Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467
If your situation is life threatening, please call:
- Triple Zero 000 to access emergency services.
Please note that Regional Access does not offer couples counselling and your partner may not participate in the counselling session with you.
Privacy and Security
Lifeline maintains confidentiality of all client telephone and online counselling services, except under specific circumstances where we are mandated to disclose information:
- it is evident that you, an identifiable third party (another person) or the general public may be at imminent or immediate risk of serious harm or injury;
- it is revealed that a criminal act under the Commonwealth or State law has been committed; and
- we have a legal obligation to disclose information, such as a court order.
Visit the Lifeline website to read the privacy policy.
Lifeline complies with Privacy Law relating to the management of personal information. Lifeline protects personal information during transmission by using Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption. All data is stored on a secure server. Despite these safeguards, the internet is not a completely secure or private environment and, while unlikely, it is possible for online security to be breached. For further information about protecting yourself online, please see the Stay Smart Online website.
Counselling sessions are recorded by Lifeline for training, coaching and quality assurance purposes or to evaluate the service provided by Regional Access.
Your counselling session will be stored for the period of time required under Australian law.
Technical issues
Regional Access is not able to answer any of your technical IT questions. Lifeline cannot guarantee that the technology used to deliver the Online Counselling (online chat) Service will always be available, function as intended or operate without interruption. In the event of a technical failure, the counsellor will work with you to try and maintain the continuity of the online counselling session.
Use of Electronic Communications
You must not forward email messages or other electronic communications from Regional Access online counselling service and/or its counsellors to other persons, except in situations where this has been agreed in advance by Regional Access, and is done with written permission. You may not use advice or information provided by Regional Access out of context or pass on the advice to another person or organisation.
Important notice
Online counselling is only one form of counselling and may not be appropriate for all people. You should consider other options which might suit your personal needs, such as face-to-face or telephone counselling.
You may consider options other than online counselling if:
- you are at risk of self-harm;
- you may be at risk of harm from another if the details of the counselling conversation became known;
- you have a diagnosed mental health issue; or
- you do not feel comfortable using written words to express yourself.
Any decisions you make, and any action you take, as a consequence online counselling is at your own risk and is your responsibility. Lifeline does not accept any liability or responsibility for any loss, damage, and/or injury suffered, nor for any action or inaction taken by you.
Safety
If your counsellor identifies concerns that you are at risk of harming yourself or others, they or another Lifeline counsellor will speak with you about this. In most circumstances, Lifeline will follow the process below:
- Request details such as your location and telephone number so that a counsellor may provide support and/or practical assistance.
- Lifeline may also utilise the contact details collated once an online counselling session has started to call you to provide this support (IP address and name)
- If Lifeline is unable to contact you via phone, the counsellor will continue to work with you online and attempt to obtain as much relevant information as possible. They will work with you to help keep you safe, and provide referrals for face-to-face and local services.
- If you chose not to provide Lifeline with information, we may be unable to follow up in the event of an emergency, and will be limited in the amount of practical assistance we can provide.
- In the event that your safety cannot be assured, Lifeline may choose to alert local emergency services in efforts to protect your safety, or the safety of others.
Comments, complaints and feedback
If you wish to give a compliment, make a complaint or comment about Lifeline’s counselling, please send us an email.