Q&A with Lifeline Australia CEO Colin Seery

VU alumnus and Lifeline Australia CEO Colin Seery, recently visited Footscray Park Campus for meetings about the VU and Lifeline partnership and a podcast with the Vice-Chancellor. We took the opportunity to chat to him about his study experience and leadership, and the future of crisis support services.

You studied a Bachelor of Applied Science (Physical Education) at Victoria University, then known as Footscray Institute of Technology. How did that experience contribute to your career?

It was a fantastic experience and we felt like pioneers. The course had only started a couple of years prior and we had lectures at the original building here and in portable classrooms on Ballarat Road. We’d all go out and do our activities at the Footscray Pool, Footscray YMCA, and other local facilities. 

The lecturers and the students, they were a fantastic group of like-minded people who were just trying to get stuff done.  

I learnt so much about being flexible in your thinking and having a can-do type of attitude. One of the founding lecturers of the course is still a mentor of mine.  

What’s it like to see how the facilities have changed? 

I have been so proud to see the development of the phys ed, recreation area. It is certainly world class now. Those involved in developing the sports and physical education area into what it is now should be particularly proud.  

Being back on campus for the Lifeline partnership has been fantastic. It’s so exciting to see the new facilities right throughout the campus and with the Footscray Hospital development across the road; you can see very positive times ahead. 

Working in senior leadership roles in football and health, what have you enjoyed and what are the similarities?  

There are a range of similarities. Leadership is obviously all about people, and I think that one of the benefits of my VU journey, as an 18-year-old whippersnapper, was that flexibility that the course engendered and the requirement to engage with a range of people in different areas.

Working in CEO roles –which I’ve been fortunate to be in for the last 20 years – again it’s all about engaging with people. Whether running a football club, Healthdirect, or Lifeline: the aim to is to set a vision that people want to be part of and buy into. If you get it right, it is a great experience.

Lifeline has around 11,000 staff and volunteers. We are very fortunate to work for such a great organisation that has a very clear purpose and delivers a very significant contribution to the Australian community.

At Lifeline, an organisation that is looking after people, how do you look after your staff - the people who are looking after people? 

Our teams working in crisis support can have some very confronting conversations during the day. The demand for our services is at record highs and the complexity of the calls and texts have also increased over recent years.

Some of the calls are very challenging and very triggering. We have a remote team that support the crisis supporters. We also offer face-to-face counselling and support for our staff where required. 

We have an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander service called 13 YARN. We have 60 First Nations staff that work in the service, and with the Voice [referendum campaign], some of the calls they are getting currently are really quite challenging. We have brought in extra support for our 13 YARN staff particularly as the referendum draws near.

Has changing technology helped you to respond to that, or has it created more issues because there are so many ways that the internet can be good and bad? 

Our philosophy is that anyone, any time, any place, any channel, can access us. 

Lifeline has been a telephone service for 60 years. But we’ve expanded into text and chat and expect these services will outpace phone calls over the journey – especially for younger people.  

We fast-tracked text services to 24/7 access in 2021 during COVID lockdowns, when we received significant numbers of calls related to domestic and family violence. We found text a more suitable channel for people in these situations, and the impact on youth through COVID is also well documented with text being a better access channel for younger people.

We’ve just amalgamated with another mental health organisation with a range of services and best-in-breed technology, with the aim to help the help-seeker navigate a complex mental health system. Our aim through technology is to seamlessly deliver help seekers into the services that they require.

So, it’s a good question. I would argue that it’s more advantageous than disadvantageous, but obviously social media can be a large contributor to some of the mental health challenges of people in the community.

From a student perspective, if someone wants to pursue a career in health or allied health and want to be there for the help seeker, how can they become more prepared to adapt to digital changes? 

We have a practical example with the VU and Lifeline partnership and the Lifeline Centre at the VU St Albans campus. It’s a win-win situation where a student can get practical placement, and we can use existing infrastructure in community, and attract a younger crisis support workforce to work in our programs.

Being digitally-savvy is critically important, and people want to access services at all times of day through a variety of channels. At Lifeline, our services are like a front door in for help seekers, and it’s a step-care approach to help people find the next stage of support.  

Can you describe a little bit about the partnership with VU & Lifeline, and the connection with Melbourne’s West? 

There is a real opportunity for Victoria University, Lifeline and the broader community to work together to have a positive impact in the west of Melbourne. As outlined earlier I believe that the partnership will develop a win-win situation for students, the University, Lifeline and more broadly, Melbourne’s west. When people learn crisis support, they take it back and share it with their family and community. With some of the current challenges with cost of living, we need those counselling services to not only be used for our service, but more widely throughout the community.

From Lifeline’s perspective it’s been great to get the partnership established with the first Lifeline contact centre developed within a Victorian University, and we can’t wait to be part of a particularly exciting future with VU.