Mental health crisis support

If you or someone you know is feeling overwhelmed and is finding it difficult to cope, or is a risk to themselves or another person, it is important to seek help and support.

In an emergency

If you are concerned for the immediate safety of yourself or someone else please call:

Triple Zero (000) off campus
UQ Security (3365 3333) on campus

Tell the person on the phone that you or someone you know is in immediate danger or you're concerned they may pose a safety risk to themselves or others.

Suicide and crisis support

If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis, having thoughts of suicide and presenting imminent safety concerns, it is important to obtain immediate support from a trained professional.

In addition to the above emergency numbers, you can contact the following services available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for immediate support:

Suicide Call Back Service: 1300 659 467
Professional telephone and online counselling to people who are affected by suicide or are worried that they or someone else is thinking about suicide.
Lifeline: 13 11 14
Lifeline provides 24 hour crisis support and suicide prevention services.
MH Call: 1300 MH CALL (1300 64 2255)
The service is staffed by trained mental health clinicians who can provide immediate support in a mental health crisis or emergency and refer to Qld public mental health acute care teams where appropriate.

Sometimes it can be hard to know what to say or do when someone is thinking about suicide. The following links provides useful information that may assist you in this situation.

Conversations Matter when someone is thinking about suicide (PDF, 1.9 MB)

UQ Tip Sheet: Supporting a Person with Suicidal Thoughts (PDF, 141.9 KB)

Supporting someone you are concerned about

If you are concerned about the welfare of someone but they do not appear to be in immediate danger, you can help the person by encouraging them to seeking help.

If the person does not have an existing support professional to contact, UQ related support options for staff could include:

Employee Assistance Program: 1300 307 912
Confidential and available free to staff. Let the program know that you or the person you are supporting is distressed and you would like an appointment time as soon as possible.
UQ Health Care
A health service providing care to staff and students based at St Lucia, Gatton and other community locations.

It is also beneficial to discuss a plan for engaging in immediate support at work through the person’s supervisor or the HR Client Services team.

For more information about support available to staff at UQ, see the Mental health support page.

If you are supporting a distressed student

If you are supporting a student who is distressed and/or reporting that they are a risk to themselves or someone else, seek immediate help by calling the UQ Counselling and Crisis Line on 1300 851 998.

You can also call this number to make an urgent appointment with a UQ Student Counsellor Monday to Friday – ask for a crisis appointment. For more information see our student crisis support page.

Your mental wellbeing when supporting others

Support for team members

Sometimes a mental health crisis situation has the potential to be distressing for a number of team members, and critical incident support services may be a helpful source of support.

Critical incident support services are available through our Employee Assistance Program provider. They include individual support and counselling for affected team members, who can opt in on a voluntary basis.

Learn more about critical incident management support through the Employee Assistance Program.