Always Listening, SBS review: Lifeline volunteers share their stories

Content warning: this article touches on themes of suicide and domestic violence.

One in six. That’s how many Australians considered taking their own life in the two years between 2020 and 2022. The unique pressures of lockdown certainly didn’t help, but the sad fact is, that number is around where it usually is. Startlingly, according to the Federal Government’s statistics, suicide is the leading cause of death for Australians aged 15 to 49.

There’s no doubt that the continuing stigma around sharing confronting feelings and incidences of mental ill-health has drawn a damaging veil around the subject. Indeed, I’d go as far as to argue that deliberately obtuse media reporting that obscures the cause of death in these situations has played an actively harmful role in perpetuating the crisis.

The best defence against suffering in silence is to speak out with confidence that you will be listened to, understood and supported, not inadvertently shamed into silence. 

Watch the Always Listening trailer.

This spirit inhabits Always Listening, award-winning Australian director Genevieve Bailey’s powerful new documentary detailing the faces behind the voices who volunteer for Lifeline, offering an ear (or text, or chat box conversation) for 60 years. During this time, they have received some 23 million calls.

Despite the subject, Always Listening is a calming and caring tribute to softly spoken heroes. Bailey is a steady pair of hands, guiding the conversation with volunteers, illuminating how they care for callers and one another.  

The director took an emotionally rich look at masculinity and mental health in Australia in her 2018 documentary Happy Sad Man and gifted us a gorgeous glimpse into the lives of young folks the world over in I Am Eleven seven years earlier. One suspects she’s as good a listener as the subjects she’s covering here.

Those volunteers include Michele, a dairy farmer who was stunned at the loss of a friend when no one had seen it coming. She takes on the evening shift, preferring online chats so she can figure out exactly what she needs to say to help most.

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Then there’s Sonny, who works on the stock exchange but starts every day with a singing bowl session before sitting down next to his Boston Terrier Ruby and jumping on the phone. Marjorie Anderson, Lifeline’s national program manager for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, discusses the vital Cultural considerations when tailoring support to these communities.

Others talk about the impact of bushfires and floods on regional communities already doing it tough. The Text messaging service can be critical in situations such as domestic violence, when it’s not always easy to speak out loud.

One volunteer, Imbi, credits Lifeline for saving hers after considering swerving into oncoming traffic, only to pull over and call. She felt overwhelmed and didn’t want to be a burden to her family, but couldn’t quite find the words. ‘I don’t know how to start,’ she said, only for the Lifeline listener to reply, ‘You don’t have to start. Just tell me how you are’.

And then there’s John Brogden, the former L/NP leader of the opposition in NSW, who reveals that his decision to speak publicly about his own attempted suicide saw thousands of Australians of all stripes send their words of support and share their stories. One man sent a letter from Darwin that simply said, ‘We all make mistakes. That’s why pencils have a rubber at the other end’.

Perhaps the most affecting moment of this simply told but generously bold documentary comes when one of the volunteers, who shares how our tone of voice can communicate so much empathy, stresses the art of really listening. Slowing down, not talking over, holding a thought and truly being in the moment, rather than thinking of what you’re going to say next.

She shares that many Lifeline shift workers note their conversations off-duty have been completely transformed. There’s a lesson in there we can all take a pinch of.

Bailey’s beautifully judged documentary underlines just how vital the service can be for those who don’t feel able to talk to friends or family, or who can but need an extra layer. Goodness knows there’s an unfair chance many of us will face the hour when we need an ear like those staffing Lifeline most.

And as the film highlights, these deep conversations wind their way towards hope more often than you might expect.

Call Lifeline or 13 11 14 or visit the website.

Always Listening premieres on 28 October on SBS On Demand.