Grief Support in Melbourne: Where to Turn, Including Free Services

It’s 9.40 on a Tuesday night. The house is quiet in the way it’s been quiet since the funeral, and you’ve typed some version of “grief help Melbourne” into your phone three times, then put it face down on the couch. Everyone said to reach out. Nobody said to whom.

Here’s the turn. You only need one next step tonight, something that fits the size of what you’re carrying, and Melbourne has more of those than most people realise. Plenty of them are free.

This is a practical guide. It starts with what to do if today feels unbearable, then goes through free and low-cost grief services in and around Melbourne, and finishes with when private counselling is worth paying for. Every phone number, opening hour and eligibility detail below was checked against each organisation’s own website in November 2026. Services do change, so it’s worth a quick look at their site before you call.

If Today Feels Unbearable

Grief can get heavy enough that it tips into not wanting to be here, or not feeling safe with yourself. That’s more common than people admit, and it deserves help tonight, not a spot on a waitlist.

• Lifeline, 13 11 14: crisis support by phone, 24 hours a day.
• Suicide Call Back Service, 1300 659 467: also 24 hours.
• 13YARN, 13 92 76: 24-hour crisis support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
• 000: if you or someone else is in immediate danger.

You don’t have to be at the edge to call any of these. If you’re frightened by how you feel, that’s reason enough.

Free Bereavement Counselling in and Around Melbourne

These services are run by not-for-profits and health services, and each fits a slightly different situation. Read the eligibility part of each one, because it’s the bit that saves you a wasted phone call.

• Grief Australia: runs a state-wide Bereavement Counselling and Support Service for Victorians, funded by the Victorian Government. Its website says counselling and support groups through this service are free for Victorian clients. Enquiries go to 1800 642 066.
• Mercy Grief Services, Sunshine: specialist bereavement counselling for people in Melbourne’s western suburbs after the death of a child, sibling, parent, grandparent, relative, friend, work colleague or partner. It’s at 3 Devonshire Road, Sunshine, open Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5pm. If a worker is already supporting you, they may be able to refer you with a phone call. Contact details for intake are on the Mercy Health website.
• Hope Bereavement Care, Geelong: free information, support and counselling for people living in the general Geelong region who are grieving the death of a baby or child, the death of an adult, or a death by suicide. Call 0494 098 035.

Phone, Online and Peer Support

Sometimes what you need first is a voice, or other people who’ve been where you are. These are the options I’d look at.

• Griefline, 1300 845 745: Griefline is now part of SANE Australia. Since 10 August 2026, calls to this number go through to SANE’s service enquiries team, Monday to Friday, 10am to 8pm Melbourne time. They can point you to grief support, resources and community services. Think of it as a front desk that helps you find the right door.
• Griefline’s online forums: open 24 hours a day to anyone in Australia aged 18 and over, if writing to people who understand feels easier than talking.
• The Compassionate Friends Victoria: free, peer-led support for adults 18 and over whose child, sibling or grandchild has died, at any age and from any cause. It’s run by people who’ve lived this loss themselves, and membership is free.
• The Compassionate Friends Grief Support Line: 03 9888 4944 or 1300 064 068, seven days a week, 9am to 10pm. They also run support groups across Melbourne and regional Victoria, and a drop-in support centre in Canterbury. They’re clear that they aren’t a crisis service, so for urgent help use the numbers above.

Don’t Skip Your GP

Your GP is worth a visit for two reasons. First, grief is physical. Sleep falls apart, appetite goes, old health problems flare, and a GP can keep an eye on all of it. Second, they can talk with you about Better Access, the government program that gives eligible people a Medicare rebate for up to 10 individual sessions a year with eligible mental health providers such as psychologists.

One thing to know: sessions with a counsellor like me aren’t covered by Medicare, so Better Access won’t apply. Some private health funds do cover counselling, depending on your extras.

What Free Services Do Well, and Where They Stretch

Free services are often staffed by people who know grief deeply, and peer groups offer something no professional can: a room full of people who don’t flinch when you say the name of the person who died. If that’s what you’re after, start there.

When Private Counselling Helps

Private counselling makes sense when you want to start soon, see the same person each time for as long as you need, and work on more than the loss itself. Grief rarely turns up alone. It drags in old losses, family tension, guilt about the last conversation, and sometimes images from the death you can’t stop replaying.

If the death was sudden or violent, you might be carrying trauma as well as grief, and that changes what helps. I’ve written about that in when grief is also trauma. If you’re wondering whether you’ve been grieving too long, how long does grief last is a gentler read than most of what comes up in a search.

At Stabilise, individual counselling is $140 for 60 minutes, in person at Carlton Counselling Rooms, 167 Drummond Street, Carlton, or online. I’m a PACFA registered Clinical Counsellor, not a psychologist, so sessions aren’t claimable on Medicare, though some private health funds cover them. For a plain breakdown of what different practitioners charge, see what counselling costs in Melbourne, and for how I work with loss, see grief counselling in Melbourne.

In sessions I often use ACT, short for Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, which helps you make room for painful feelings while still moving towards what matters to you. Alongside that I use nervous-system-based work for the body side of grief: the tight chest, the 3am waking, the fog that makes it hard to read an email.

One Thing to Try Tonight

Whatever came up is a clue. If it was company, try a peer group. If it was someone to help you make sense of it, try counselling. If it was sleep, start with your GP.

What to Expect From the First Call

A realistic expectation: the first call probably won’t make you feel better. It’s often an intake conversation, some questions, maybe a waitlist. That can feel like very little when you’re hurting. Still, your name is now somewhere that someone will follow up, and that’s often how support begins.

If Christmas or an anniversary is coming, I’ve written separately about grief at Christmas and other hard dates. And if your loss is one other people don’t quite recognise, the quiet grief nobody talks about might help you feel less alone with it.

If you’re in crisis or not safe right now, call Lifeline on 13 11 14, any time, or 000 in an emergency.

Whichever door you try first, you don’t have to do this by yourself. None of this is a diagnosis, and it’s not a substitute for individual assessment. If you’d like to talk it through, the first 15-minute call is free. Stabilise is available in Carlton, Melbourne and online.