The announcement that Murwillumbah’s Safe Haven would be closed this week due to the end of funding arrangements has been greeted with shock by locals who have come to rely on the mental health support services the facility provided.
Originally set up following the 2022 floods, in April 2025 the NSW government provided additional funding to support an extension to the delivery of Safe Haven services in Lismore, Murwillumbah and Mullumbimby up to June 2026, but this has now run out.
The Echo spoke to Murwillumbah Safe Haven client Michael Maloney about the situation. He explained that he’s been diagnosed in the past with bipolar and severe depression, and credits the people at Murwillumbah Safe Haven with pulling him out of a suicidal situation three years ago.
‘They basically said, “Michael, you’re really unwell, you should get some treatment. They organised an ambulance for me and took me up to the old Tweed Heads Hospital. I was really grateful, and I realised that they’d given me a second chance.’
Protests
Michael Maloney says he’s now quite despondent that the drop-in centre model of Safe Haven, for people who are at crisis point and in need of the greatest help, will no longer be available in Murwillumbah. This prompted a protest outside the soon-to-be closed Safe Haven office on Tuesday this week.
‘I just felt there’s a lot of people that maybe have never protested or can’t protest, for whatever reason, so myself and a few others said, “Well, we can, and this is what we can give back to try and keep the organisation open.”‘
The Safe Haven facility in Lismore is remaining open for now, but Michael Maloney says it will be operating on a very different model.
‘It won’t be a drop-in center, it’ll be somewhere where you basically book three weeks in advance or something to see a psychologist. It’s not the same as going in when you absolutely need to see someone. That’s the beauty of the Murwillumbah model.’
Michael explained that after his initial crisis, which happened about six months after the floods, he was able to make a contract with the people at Safe Haven. ‘If they hadn’t seen me for three weeks, they would ring me just to touch base to see whether I was okay.
‘What other services would do that, actually ring and check in on you, you know? It was fabulous, really. They had about three or four staff there on any given day.’
He says nobody has offered him any other kind of mental health service to take the place of Safe Haven Murwillumbah.
Michael Maloney and other clients of the service are planning a bigger rally next Wednesday, outside the closed office at Shop 10-12, 41-45 Murwillumbah Street, Murwillumbah.
If this story has brought up any issues for you, help is available at Lifeline on 13 11 14, or Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636
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