LIFELINE and Beyond Blue are linking up under a new partnership to make it easier and more efficient for people to find the support that best suits them.

As community demand for mental health and crisis support rises and resources become increasingly tight, the two organisations have designed their new strategic directions to be complementary.

Lifeline will continue to focus on supporting people in crisis and Beyond Blue will continue to focus on prevention and earlier intervention, supporting people at the first sign of struggle.

Together, the organisations support millions of people a year with information, advice, online self-help and referrals via telephone, text, webchat and digital platforms.

Beyond Blue chair and former prime minister Julia Gillard said Australia’s mental health and suicide prevention systems are too often crisis-driven.

“People often only get support when they’re at breaking point. So Beyond Blue will continue its focus on supporting people early on – helping people to feel better sooner, to get well and to stay well,” she said.

Lifeline chair Jacinta Munro said Lifeline will continue to focus on crisis support and suicide prevention, supporting Australians in times of crisis and equipping individuals and communities to be suicide safe.

Lifeline and Beyond Blue will remain equipped and available to provide support to all Australians, no matter the nature of their distress.

“Governments are increasingly recognising the importance of better integration within the mental health and wellbeing sector, and achieving this requires leadership from both governments and sector organisations,” Ms Munro said.

“This partnership between Lifeline and Beyond Blue helps to deliver a more integrated system, with more clarity for help seekers, smoother transitions between services and a greater focus on holistic support.”

The partnership means Lifeline and Beyond Blue will be better placed to share resources and connect people with the information, advice and support that suits them best, regardless of where their journey begins.

As a tangible example of the partnership, Beyond Blue is planning to transfer to Lifeline ownership of its popular suicide safety planning tool Beyond Now, which has supported hundreds of thousands of people to stay safe during a suicide crisis since its creation in 2016.

In the past four years alone, more than 400,000 people have used the app with more than 150,000 safety plans made.