Counselling services
Access mental health nurses and social workers for confidential support with personal, emotional and mental health difficulties.
Need emergency help?
Call these numbers anytime for support in a crisis and help with suicide prevention:
- Swinburne's student wellbeing support line: 1300 854 144 or text +61488 884 145
- Emergency services: 000
- Lifeline: 131 114
- Suicide Help Line: 1300 651 251
- For additional assistance outside business hours, refer to our 24/7 supports page.
Being a student can be challenging, and sometimes personal, emotional or mental health difficulties can make things feel overwhelming. Our counsellors and social workers provide free, confidential support for Swinburne students.
How we can support you
We can help if you are experiencing:
stress, worry or anxiety
low mood or depression
difficulties with study, motivation or concentration
relationship, family or friendship issues
grief and loss
concerns about alcohol or other drug use
the impacts of trauma, sexual assault or family violence
- other emotional or mental health concerns.
Specialist support is also available for sexual assault, alcohol and other drug issues, and other complex concerns.
If you need more information or support around self-harm or suicidal thoughts, visit our Self-harm and suicidal behaviours page.
Book an appointment online
You can register and book an appointment online though the HotDoc app, it can be downloaded from the App Store or Google Play.
Register
Register once for all future health and wellbeing services.
Book a counselling appointment
Counselling support is available at the Hawthorn, Croydon and Wantirna campuses. Appointments are required and must be booked in advance.
Online bookings are available for appointments at the Hawthorn campus. To book counselling support at the Croydon or Wantirna campuses, please contact Health Services.
For support with bookings or general enquiries, contact Health Services at healthservice@swinburne.edu.au or +61 3 9214 8483.
Supporting documentation
Learners who require supporting documentation, including medical impact statements for processes like special consideration, can now book appointments online. Easy to access and designed to support your wellbeing.
and can we also just put the health service email and phone number at the end of the paragraph about contacting the health services to book at the eastern campuses
TalkCampus app for online peer support
TalkCampus is a free app that you can download from the App Store or Google Play, or try it on the web.
It’s where you can:
get 24/7 online peer support – even at 3am
chat live with students from Swinburne, and all over the world – there’s a massive 2 million students on there already!
post any comment or question and someone will be there within seconds
stay anonymous – when you create a profile, you don’t need to put in your real name
chat in a safe space that’s monitored around the clock by clinically trained people
access real-time translation into English, Arabic, Chinese Simplified, French, German, Hindi and Spanish and receive peer support in over 30 languages.
Talk Campus is not a replacement for crisis support: if you are in distress while using TalkCampus, an online clinician will direct you to Swinburne’s support services.
Location and contact
Opening hours
Open Monday to Friday 9.00am-5.00pm
Location (Hawthorn)
GS Building-Level 4 34 Wakefield Street Hawthorn
Call us
Email us
Specialist support services
Referrals can be made, to specialist external services to support those impacted by gender-based violence, including sexual assault, sexual harassment, and family violence. You can also choose to access these services yourself without a referral.
- Eastern Centre Against Sexual Assault (ECASA): Provides free and confidential counselling and support for people who have experienced sexual assault or sexual harassment, recently or in the past. If ECASA is not your local service, we can also help connect you with a sexual assault service near you.
- The Orange Door: Provides support for people experiencing family violence, families who need help with parenting or caring for children, and people who use violence in their relationships. Services may include safety planning, counselling, housing support, help to stay safely in your own home, support for children’s wellbeing, legal and financial assistance, and referral to behaviour change programs.
- If you need to talk to someone now, you can contact 1800RESPECT, a free 24/7 national support service for anyone impacted by sexual violence or family violence. Call 1800 737 732, text +61 458 737 732 or chat online.
Referrals can be made to Access Health and Community. The Alcohol and Drug Youth Support Clinician provides counselling and fosters recovery by providing support to reduce the harms of alcohol, medication and other drug use.
Costs
Swinburne students incur no cost to access Swinburne University's counselling services.
Swinburne students will be charged a fee for accessing our psychiatry services.
It is important that you give notice if you need to cancel an appointment with a counsellor or the psychiatrist so we can offer your appointment to another student in need.
You must call to cancel if you think you won't be able to keep your appointment with your counsellor. You will be charged a $20 fee if you do not call us to cancel at least two hours in advance. This fee needs to be paid before you make another appointment.
To cancel an appointment with the psychiatrist, you must give at least 48 hours notice or you will be charged a cancellation fee as follows.
Psychiatrist cancellation fees:
If you fail to attend your appointment or do not provide 48 notices you may be charged a fee ranging from $60 to $275 depending on the length and type of your missed appointment.
Note: You can arrange SMS reminders at the time of booking to be sure you don’t miss your appointment.
Want to register for counselling sessions?
If you would like to register for a counselling session complete the form below, you can then make appointments.