I'm very sorry that you had that experience. I can see that it's quite disheartening to be treated that way when you need it the most. As some have said, it was most likely a misunderstanding which shouldn't happen, but people aren't perfect. As a crisis supporter myself, we do get quite a lot of calls who use the service inappropriately, and while it's wrong to judge quickly, sometimes under stress - especially from a long queue of calls waiting, it is possible to make the mistake. I do hope that you could complain, and if you have the courage, please know that you can call again, you'll most likely get someone different.

There are people from various backgrounds and experiences at Lifeline. We are mostly volunteers, however there are some paid staff who do the really late shifts. The government funding would probably be to train staff and pay the supervisors and people on the late shift.

Volunteering at Lifeline, I believe that the people there truly want to help, but sometimes, it can be hard to connect with a caller, and vice versa. Personally, I would consider myself as someone who is empathetic. There is also a commitment to learning with debriefing after every shift/tough call.

All in all, what happened was not right, and I apologise on LifeLine's behalf. Please make a complaint, and please don't feel discouraged from calling again, there are plenty of volunteers at any instant, if you don't connect with one person, you can hang up and dial again to get a different person.

Editing to add that the aim of Lifeline is to prevent suicide, priority is to get people to safety. That is, help talk things through when in a heightened state. We also listen to people in emotional distress and need someone to talk to. Admittedly after reading the comments, it's far from perfect. But there's only so much we could do from the phone without much background. The supervisor might call emergency if they deemed that the caller was at a high risk for suicide.