ARAFMI Hunter Mental Health Carers offer support and counselling for the families and friends of people with mental illness.

Mental illness can have a ripple effect on families, creating tension, uncertainty and significant changes in how people live their lives. There is often little training or support for families and friends, and their personal needs and mental health can sometimes be overlooked.

ARAFMI Hunter Mental Health Carers has been operating in the Hunter since 1979 to support anyone caring for someone with mental illness. The service joined Samaritans in 2019.

Services

ARAFMI Hunter offers the following services:

  • Free face-to-face or over the phone counselling with accredited and professional counsellors
  • Assistance in navigating the Hunter New England mental health services
  • Information on psychiatric illnesses
  • Borderline Personality Disorder monthly support group for carers
  • Therapeutic Workshop for 8 Stages of Healing

Who we assist

Our service can assist people who:

  • Are providing unpaid help to someone with a mental illness
  • May be receiving a Centrelink Carers Payment

You can refer yourself to our service, you do not need to already be connected to a formal referral body.

You do not need to provide a formal diagnosis for the person you are helping.

Call us

Call our team on (02) 4922 1546.

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