Lifeline was established in Sydney in 1963 by the Rev. Dr Sir Alan Walker who, after a distressing incident with one of his parishioners, set up a phone line for those in need to talk about their issues. On the first night of the service there were 100 calls. Lifeline is now a national organisation with 41 centres receiving an average of 3,000 calls per day or over one million per year. The centres are operated by 17 different organisations, including the Uniting Church. In addition to the call centre, there are options for contact by online chat, text, or a dedicated service for Indigenous Australians.

The Ballarat service was established 55 years ago, has 50 volunteer supporters (ideally 80) and, like all centres, receives calls from all over the country. As part of a national support plan, the Ballarat centre does not have local data, but most calls it receives are for issues other than suicide.

Volunteers are always welcome and more are needed. Volunteer training takes 12 months and costs the organisation $3-4,000 per volunteer. Volunteers pay a one-off registration fee of $170. They can work either at the phone room or remotely from home, and have ongoing support from psychologists, team leaders and technicians.

An additional aspect of Lifeline work is workplace and community training for organisations, focussing on suicide prevention and dealing with family violence. This fee-for-service activity trains around 2,000 people each year, the fees contributing to the cost of running the phone rooms.

Current issues facing Lifeline include a trend for people to ask AI before contacting Lifeline and the longstanding reluctance of men to speak about their feelings. Callers remain approximately 60% female.