What is the Bush Sup­port Line?

The Bush Sup­port Line is a high-qual­i­ty, free, con­fi­den­tial tele­phone sup­port line. It oper­ates 24/7 and is staffed by expe­ri­enced psy­chol­o­gists with rur­al, remote and cross-cul­tur­al experience. 

Who is the Bush Sup­port Line for?

The Bush Sup­port Line is free and avail­able for the cur­rent and emerg­ing rur­al and remote health work­force and their fam­i­lies. This includes Nurs­es and Mid­wives, Allied Health Pro­fes­sion­als, Para­medics, Med­ical Offi­cers, Abo­rig­i­nal Health Workers/​Practitioners, and Aged Care work­ers. Interns or stu­dents who are enrolled in health dis­ci­plines in rur­al and remote areas, or are per­haps going on stu­dent place­ments in these areas, are also eli­gi­ble to use the service.

The imme­di­ate fam­i­lies of our rur­al and remote health work­force play an essen­tial role in the sup­port they pro­vide, so we’re here for them, too; they can call the Bush Sup­port Line at any time.

Do you need to be a CRANAplus member?

No, you don’t. The Bush Sup­port Line is not linked to CRANAplus Mem­ber­ship and is open to every­one work­ing in the rur­al and remote health sector.

Is it just for me to talk about work issues?

Not at all. We are here to sup­port you with both per­son­al and pro­fes­sion­al issues.

Our psy­chol­o­gists under­stand the unique chal­lenges the rur­al and remote work­force and their fam­i­lies face. Some of the prob­lems we reg­u­lar­ly sup­port callers with include the following:

• Feel­ing iso­lat­ed, lone­ly, detached, anx­ious, irri­ta­ble, sad, exhaust­ed, or overwhelmed
  
• Man­ag­ing chal­leng­ing per­son­al or pro­fes­sion­al relationships
• Adjust­ing to a new role, work­place, lifestyle, or community
• Man­ag­ing unex­pect­ed per­son­al, pro­fes­sion­al, or com­mu­ni­ty challenges
• Work­ing with chal­leng­ing per­son­al­i­ties or address­ing work­place bul­ly­ing or harassment
• Improv­ing well­be­ing and work performance
• Chal­lenges regard­ing work­place practices
• Learn­ing how to recog­nise and improve low mood, anx­i­ety, or stress
• Con­nect­ing with a pro­fes­sion­al to debrief, prob­lem-solve or decision-make.

Is it a con­fi­den­tial service?

The Bush Sup­port Line is a safe place for peo­ple to dis­cuss their chal­lenges, and infor­ma­tion shared with the Bush Sup­port Line is man­aged under usu­al pri­va­cy and con­fi­den­tial­i­ty guide­lines, as would be expect­ed of any psy­chol­o­gy service. 

You may be asked for lim­it­ed per­son­al infor­ma­tion, such as your name, tele­phone num­ber, date of birth and cur­rent location. 

You can also choose to remain anony­mous, and we will con­tin­ue to pro­vide you sup­port with­in the reg­u­la­to­ry lim­i­ta­tions of the ser­vice. If you want more infor­ma­tion about how we respect and main­tain your pri­va­cy and con­fi­den­tial­i­ty, please see our Men­tal Health and Well­be­ing Pri­va­cy Pol­i­cy.

Do you need a refer­ral or to pre­pare before you call?

No, you will be sup­port­ed to share your expe­ri­ence and make sense of what is occur­ring, so it’s more impor­tant that you do not put the call off. The Bush Sup­port Line is avail­able 24 hours, 7 days a week. Even if you only have a few min­utes but are in need of sup­port, give us a call. You can ring back any­time when you need to.

What can you expect when you call?

One of our expe­ri­enced psy­chol­o­gists will answer your call, will briefly dis­cuss and obtain your con­sent, lis­ten to your rea­son for call­ing, explore what you would like to talk about and explain how they could help. You will be the focus of the con­ver­sa­tion, so you and your needs will guide the psychologist. 

Is it just a ​‘one-off’ thing?

You can call as a once-off or when­ev­er you need. Ses­sions are deliv­ered as sin­gle ses­sions under a brief inter­ven­tion model.

We have reg­u­lar callers who call as and when need­ed, for exam­ple, once or twice a month or every few months. Or peo­ple call sev­er­al times in a few weeks or over a few months when they need sup­port dur­ing more intense stress or a par­tic­u­lar per­son­al or pro­fes­sion­al challenge.

You may get a dif­fer­ent psy­chol­o­gist if you call more than once. How­ev­er, we make a dig­i­tal record of each call. By pro­vid­ing us with iden­ti­fy­ing details, our psy­chol­o­gists can find any notes from pre­vi­ous calls and famil­iarise them­selves with the gen­er­al out­line of your sto­ry if this is ben­e­fi­cial to any future calls.

Is it a cri­sis service?

The Bush Sup­port Line isn’t intend­ed as a cri­sis line. It can pro­vide tele­phone sup­port to you as a health or asso­ci­at­ed work­er and your fam­i­ly after trau­mat­ic events and incidents.

The Bush Sup­port Line does not con­nect to emer­gency ser­vices or oth­er ser­vices. If there is an imme­di­ate risk to safe­ty, con­tact the appro­pri­ate emer­gency ser­vice or cri­sis line.

13YARN (13 92 76) pro­vides 24/7 cri­sis sup­port for Abo­rig­i­nal and Tor­res Strait Islander peoples.

Life­line Aus­tralia 13 11 14 is a nation­al char­i­ty pro­vid­ing all Aus­tralians expe­ri­enc­ing a per­son­al cri­sis with access to 24-hour cri­sis sup­port and sui­cide prevention.

How much will it cost to use the Bush Sup­port Line?

The Bush Sup­port Line is a free ser­vice. You will get high-qual­i­ty psy­cho­log­i­cal sup­port over the phone from wher­ev­er you are in Aus­tralia, and it will cost you noth­ing. Our team of psy­chol­o­gists under­stands the unique chal­lenges faced by the rur­al and remote health workforce. 

We are pas­sion­ate about and ded­i­cat­ed to pro­vid­ing this ser­vice to sup­port the most impor­tant per­son in your world: you.