Everyone needs some support at different times of their life, and we want to make sure that the young people of Merri-bek know where they can go if they want to access help and resources. Below you'll find some of the different support options we can offer or recommend to young people in our area.
- Counselling
Kids Helpline
Kids Helpline is a free, private and confidential, telephone and online counselling service specifically for young people aged between 5 and 25.
Website: kidshelpline.com.au
Phone: 1800 55 1800
Email: counsellor@kidshelpline.com.au
Web chat: online chat tool
Lifeline
Lifeline provides crisis support and suicide prevention services for all Australians experiencing a personal crisis.
Website: www.lifeline.org.au
Arabic Welfare Inc
Counselling services and general welfare and settlement support, family relationship support, and referral services to members of the Arabic-speaking communities in north-west metropolitan area and across Victoria.
Website: arabicwelfare.org.au
Contact: Use the contact form on their website
Office location: Level 1, 233 Sydney Road, Brunswick
Headspace Australia
Provides help with mental health, physical and sexual health, alcohol and other drugs and work and study support for young people between 12 and 25 years old.
Website: headspace.org.au
Phone: 1300 880 218
Contact: online and phone support and counselling
Office location: 2A Hartington Street in Glenroy
Kurdish Association of Victoria - Pascoe Vale
The Kurdish Association of Victoria in Pascoe Vale offers casework and counselling services to Kurdish people from Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria, former Soviet Union or anywhere, through their office in Pascoe Vale.
Phone: 9379 5679
Office location: 36 Fawkner Road, Pascoe Vale.
Merri Community Health Services
The youth counselling team at Merri Community Health Services provides voluntary, short to medium-term counselling for young people aged 12 to 25 on a range of issues including family violence, school, relationships, mental health, sexuality, assault, anger management, and eating disorders.
Website: www.merrihealth.org.au
Phone: 1300 637 744
Office location: 93 Bell Street, Coburg (drop-in service 1pm to 3pm weekdays)
Victorian Aboriginal Health Service
The Victorian Aboriginal Health Service offers mental health counselling and support for young people, children and families from the Koori community.
Website: www.vahs.org.au
Phone: 9403 3300
Office location: 238-250 Plenty Rd, Preston
- Drug and alcohol support
DirectLine
DirectLine is a confidential alcohol and drug counselling and referral service in Victoria.
Website: www.directline.org.au
Phone: 1800 888 236
Web chat: online counselling service
Alcohol and drug counselling and support - Merri Community Health Service
Merri Community Health Service offers one-on-one and group support for anyone aged 16 to 25, experiencing drug or alcohol use, and can also offer family and group support.
Website: www.merrihealth.org.au
Phone: 1300 637 744
Email: tracks@merrihealth.org.au
Office location: 21 Victoria Street, Coburg
Youth Northern Outreach Team (YNOT - Youth Projects)
The Youth Northern Outreach Team delivers non-judgemental counselling and treatment for individuals dealing with alcohol and or other drug abuse or dependence problems, with a harm minimisation approach.
Website: www.youthprojects.org.au
Phone: 9304 9100
Youth Substance Abuse Service (YSAS) - Fitzroy
YSAS has a lot of drug and alcohol programs to support young people aged 12 to 21 years old.
Website: ysas.org.au
Phone: 9415 8881
Contact: use the contact form on their website
Office location: Suite 1 - 2, at 306 - 310 Bell Street, Preston
- Getting a job and general employment support
Transition to Work - Youth projects
Transition to Work enables life changing opportunities for young people who are currently unemployed by developing the necessary skills and training alongside individualised support.
Website: www.youthprojects.org.au
Office location: 6 Hartington Street, Glenroy
Melbourne's North Joblink
Melbourne's North Joblink is a free service to employers and job seekers, where available jobs in Melbourne's North can be advertised.
Website: www.mnjoblink.com.au
Jobs for Youth
The Inner Northern Youth Employment Taskforce (INYET) aims to respond to rising youth unemployment in Melbourne’s Inner North by providing a central place for people looking for jobs to find work in the Northern suburbs.
Website: www.jobsforyouth.com.au
- Health and medical support
Urgent medical assistance
Call 000 for urgent medical assistance (ask for ambulance support)
Child and adolescent mental health services
Child and adolescent mental health services offer psychiatric care 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and have consultation, assessment and treatment services including family therapy, case management, autism assessments, group programs and inpatient treatment.
0 to 15 years old phone: 1800 445 511
15 or older phone: 1800 888 320
Headspace Australia
Headspace Australia provides help with mental health, physical and sexual health, alcohol and other drugs and work and study support for young people between 12 and 25 years old.
Website: headspace.org.au
Phone: 1300 880 218
Contact: online and phone support and counselling
Office location: 2A Hartington Street in Glenroy
Find a local doctor
You can find a local doctor (also known as a general practitioner or GP) in your area by using the website Service Seeker to search for local medical doctors.
Doclist - Doctors and Mental Health Professionals Recommended by Lesbian and Bisexual Women
Docklist is a website that allows you to search through recommendations of health professionals who are caring and competent, respectful, and have knowledge of how sexual orientation impacts on health issues.
Website: www.doclist.com.au
Family planning Victoria
This service provides sexual and reproductive health and education services for young people up to 25 years old.
Website: www.fpv.org.au
Phone: 1800 013 952 (family planning)
After hours phone 1: 13 26 60 (nominated medical deputising service DoctorDoctor)
After hours phone 2: 1300 003 707, select option 3 (24 hour helpline for medical terminations of pregnancy)
Office location 1: 901 Whitehorse Road, Box Hill
Office location 2: Level 1, 94 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne
- Housing support
Emergency housing during coronavirus (COVID-19)
Find updated information about emergency housing during the current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on our Emergency Housing web page.
Melbourne City Mission - Frontyard Youth Services
Frontyard Youth Services work together to address the physical, social, and emotional needs of young people up to the age of 25, who spend time in the Melbourne CBD or who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
Phone: 9977 0000
Contact: use the contact form on their website
Office location: 19 King Street, Melbourne
VincentCare Victoria - Northern Community Hub
VincentCare provides support and services to people experiencing or at risk of homelessness and housing crisis.
Phone: 1800 825 955
Ask Izzy
Ask Izzy is a free and anonymous directory where you can search over 360,000 services to find housing, meals, healthcare, counselling, legal advice, addiction treatment and a whole lot more. Telstra mobile users can access Ask Izzy even if you don’t have credit.
Website: askizzy.org.au
- Legal support
Federation of Community Legal Centres Victoria
Community Legal Centres are independent community organisations that provide free legal services to the public including legal information, initial advice and in some cases ongoing assistance.
Website: www.fclc.org.au
Northern Community Legal Centre (NCLC)
Northern Community Legal Centre (NCLC) provides free and confidential legal advice and assistance to young people under 25 who live, work or study in the City of Merri-bek, City of Hume and Mitchell Shire.
Website: www.northernclc.org.au
Phone: (03) 9310 4376
Offlice location: Level 3, Building 2, 1100 Pascoe Vale Road, Broadmeadows
Victoria Legal Aid
Victoria Legal Aid help people with their legal problems, they focus on protecting the rights of Victorians and representing those who need it the most.
Website:
Phone: 1300 792 387 (8am to 5pm weekdays)
Resources: 'find legal answers' web page
Web chat: live online chat (8am to 5pm weekdays)
Youthlaw - Youth People's Legal Rights Centre Inc.
Youthlaw offers free legal advice for young people under 25 years old.
Website: youthlaw.asn.au
Phone: 9113 9500
Email: legal@youthlaw.asn.au
Resources: drop-in advice web page
Office location: 147-155 Pelham St, Carlton
Disability Discrimination Legal Service
The Disability Discrimination Legal Service Inc (DDLS) is a state wide independent community legal centre that specialises in disability discrimination legal matters and provides free legal services areas including information, referral, advice, casework assistance, community legal education, and policy and law reform.
Website: www.ddls.org.au
Phone: 9654 8644 (9am to 5pm weekdays)
Email: info@ddls.org.au
Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service (VALS)
The Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service (VALS) was established to address the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the criminal justice system, and assist Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with legal matters.
Website: www.vals.org.au
Phone: 1800 064 865
Email: vals@vals.org.au
Office location: 273 High St, Preston
Women's Legal Service Victoria
Women's Legal Service Victoria is a not for profit organisation who works with and for women experiencing particular disadvantage to address legal issues arising from relationship breakdown or violence.
Website:
Melbourne phone: 8622 0600 (Tuesdays 5:30pm to 7:30pm, and Thursdays 5:30pm to 7:30pm)
Regional Victoria phone: 1800 133 302 (Tuesdays 5:30pm to 7:30pm, and Thursdays 5:30pm to 7:30pm)
- LGBTQI+ support
Rainbow Door -Switchboard
Rainbow Door is a free service of Switchboard that provides a LGBTQIA+ hotline as well as information, support, and referrals to LGBTQIA+ Victorians and their friends and family.
Website: www.switchboard.org.au
Phone: 1800 729 367
Text message: 0480 017 246
Email: support@rainbowdoor.org.au
Queerspace - Drummond Street Services
Queerspace is an LGBTQI+ health and well-being support service with a focus on relationships, families, parenting and young people, and offers co-located services across north-west metropolitan Victoria.
Website: www.queerspace.org.au
Phone: 9663 6733
Contact: use the form on their website
Office location: 100 Drummond Street, Carlton
Minus 18
Minus 18 provides mental health support, and tackles social isolation by creating fun-filled spaces where LGBTQIA+ young people belong and are celebrated.
Website: www.minus18.org.au
Contact: use the contact form on their website
Office location: Schoolhouse Studios at 81 Rupert Street, Collingwood
QLife
QLife provides Australia-wide anonymous, LGBTQI peer support and referral for people wanting to talk about a range of issues including sexuality, identity, gender, bodies, feelings or relationships.
Website: qlife.org.au
Phone: 1800 184 527
Contact: use the contact form on their website
Web chat: free online chat (3pm to 12am/midnight)
Ygender
Ygender is a peer led social support and advocacy group for trans/gender diverse young people.
Website: www.ygender.org.au
Email: info@ygender.org.au
Resources: articles and resources on their website
Office location: 100 Drummond St, Carlton
YGLAM
YGLAM Queer Youth Theatre group is a great place to flex your creative muscles and to be a part of creating some of the most powerful and important youth focused LGBTQI+ theatre in Melbourne.
Genderqueer Australia
Genderqueer Australia is a peer support group for Gender Questioning, Genderqueer and Trans people, and their family and friends and they run catch-ups on the first Saturday of the month in Melbourne.
Website: www.genderqueer.org.au
Resources: resources on their website
Transcend
Transcend is a grass roots, unfunded support network and was the first parent led peer support network for the families of transgender children in Australia.
Website: transcendaus.org
Resources: resources on their website
Doclist - Doctors and Mental Health Professionals Recommended by Lesbian and Bisexual Women
Docklist is a website that allows you to search through recommendations of health professionals who are caring and competent, respectful, and have knowledge of how sexual orientation impacts on health issues.
Website: www.doclist.com.au
- Parent support
Anglicare Parentzone
Anglicare Parentzone Parent Resource Centres provide programs and courses to support to parents on a wide-range of parenting issues, including building self-esteem and dealing with conflict.
Website: www.anglicarevic.org.au
Phone: (03) 8641 8900
Parentline Victoria
Parentline Victoria is a service of Better Health Victoria that provides a statewide telephone counselling service to parents and carers of children aged from 0 to 18 years old.
Website: www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au
Cybersmart
Cybersmart is a Australian Government initiative to provide advice and resources that help parents and carers to assist children in having safe experiences online.
Website: www.esafety.gov.au
It's time we talked
It’s time we talked (formerly Reality & Risk: Pornography, young people and sexuality) is a violence prevention project that supports young people, parents, schools, government and the community sector to understand and address the influence of pornography.
Website: itstimewetalked.com
Step Families Australia
Stepfamilies Australia provides tools and resources to strengthen the bonds of step and blended families, and inspire a society that recognises, values and supports these families to achieve their highest potential.
Website: stepfamily.org.au
Phone: (03) 9663 6733
Email: info@stepfamilies.org.au
Office location: 100 Drummond Street, Carlton
- Relationship support
Relationships Australia
Relationships Australia have support groups and counselling on relationships for abusive and abused partners.
Website: www.relationshipsvictoria.com.au
Phone: 8625 3666
Office location: Lower Ground Floor, 379 Collins Street
(enter via Queen St), MelbourneReach Out
ReachOut is an online mental health service for young people and their parents or guardians in Australia.They have self-help information, peer-support program and referral tools which you can access through their website.
Headspace - Real stories
Headspace's Real stories presents stories told by young people about their relationships with their friends, and intimate partners that allows young people to hear from others in similar situations.
Website: headspace.org.au
Love: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly
Love: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly is a website designed to help young people to figure out where their relationship is at – whether it’s good, bad, or ugly.
Website: lovegoodbadugly.com
1800RESPECT
1800RESPECT is a 24 hour service that supports people impacted by sexual assault, domestic or family violence and abuse with confidential information, counselling and support services.
Website: www.1800respect.org.au
Phone: 1800 737 732
Web chat: chat online with a counsellor
Domestic Violence Resource Centre Victoria
The Domestic Violence Resource Centre Victoria is a specialist family violence organisation that focuses on effectively responding to violence against women, and also prevention of violence against women.
Website: www.dvrcv.org.au
CASA (Centre Against Sexual Assault)
CASA House provides counselling and advocacy support to adult women and men who are victim/survivors of recent and past sexual assault.
Website: www.casa.org.au
Phone: 9496 2240
Office location: Building 26, Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital, 300 Waterdale Road, Heidelberg West
- School holiday support
Oxygen Youth Space
Oxygen youth space is a fun, safe, inclusive and free space designed to be used by young people aged from 12 to 24.
Website: Find out more on the Oxygen Youth space web page.
Location: 4/8 Gaffney St, Coburg (next to the Coburg Lake)
Active Merri-bek Teenage Holiday Program
The Active Merri-bek Teenage Holiday Program provides fun and empowering holiday activities for young people aged 13 to 16 years old including horse riding, movies, go carts, excursions and bowling during the school holidays.
