Record numbers of Australians experiencing financial hardship are contacting crisis support services, as the soaring cost of living takes a toll on people's mental health.
Lifeline has received 110,000 calls related to financial distress so far in 2024, including calls about financial management, employment and homelessness.
The service's highest-ever daily demand was recorded on October 7, when it received 4405 calls and messages.
It eclipsed the previous one-day benchmark of 4396, set a week earlier in September, when the service recorded four of its 10 busiest days to date, with eight of the busiest 10 in 2024.
Lifeline Australia chief executive Colin Seery says the service is doing everything it can to keep up with the unprecedented demand.
"In the face of consistent cost-of-living pressures, we are seeing people having to make impossible choices, like should they pay the rent or should they pay their power or insurance bill?" he said on Monday.
"Add to these multiple other factors happening at the same time, from domestic and family violence and social isolation to extreme weather and events overseas, and you can begin to understand why levels of anxiety and distress are on the rise.
"Lifeline has never been needed more."
Lifeline's online Financial Stress Toolkit has been visited almost twice as much as it was in the corresponding period last year, with webpage views up 183 per cent.
Mr Seery said there was a pressing need to invest in community-based programs that help people and families build financial resilience.
Headline inflation for the September quarter dropped sharply to 2.8 per cent, the lowest level since 2021, and within the Reserve Bank's target range of between two and three per cent.
Lifeline is a national charity that provides Australians experiencing emotional distress with access to 24-hour crisis support and suicide prevention services.
The service's 43 centres across the nation are working in an increasingly complex support environment.
Some are involved in food relief, distributing sleeping bags and establishing food banks, in addition to face-to-face crisis support and financial counselling.
Lifeline 13 11 14
beyondblue 1300 22 4636
