Six months into the coronavirus global health pandemic another emergency is picking up speed in Australia: a mental health crisis.

As COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc on our lives, Lifeline is getting a call every 30 seconds.

That's about 90,000 calls a month, to one provider alone.

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From lockdowns and job losses, to grief and family breakdowns, everyone is dealing with their own set of unique, challenging circumstances right now.

Throw in the fact that we're being encouraged not to touch, socialise or be around others and it's easy to feel exceptionally alone.

In August, Victoria announced an additional $59 million in funding to boost the state's mental health services after admitting the state's system "wasn't fit for purpose" given the current circumstances.

The federal government has also announced extra funding, providing around $500 million to mental health supports, suicide prevention services, and mental health care via telehealth services since January.

But some experts say in the scheme of the crisis we're facing, those numbers are modest at best.

In an effort to check in on the women of Australia right now, we asked 43 in the Mamamia community:How are you doing, really?

Here's what they told us:

Anthea.

I suffer anxiety and I'm in Melbourne. How am I? Okay... but only just. I had an appointment with my psych in mid-July before it all went downhill COVID wise, and he suggested it would be okay to up my medication.

I did at the end of July with great trepidation (I suffer bad initial effects), but thankfully the side effects were minor.

The last couple of days I've had small attacks, but nothing overwhelming. But it's so miserable and mundane down here, and I'm not in a good place mentally.

Tamara.

I live with anxiety and depression and have done so since a young age, but this year has been a constant bubbling away of anxiety that never seems to fade. Sometimes I notice it more, other times less, but it’s always present in the background. It impacts my patience, my focus, my health and my joy.

If I’m honest, I’m okay. If I’mtrulyhonest, I’m scared this level of anxiety will be my “new normal” and that strikes fear into me.

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Lily.

My mental health sucks right now. I feel super anxious, on edge and really uninspired and flat most of time, which makes me feel sad because I don’t feel like myself.

I think I’ve been more stressed and affected than I realised about the whole COVID thing, being alone, and working from home - because I’ve lost weight which is a classic sign from my body when I’m constantly operating on high adrenaline.

Heaps of my friends and family say they feel the same, but I am kind of unsure how to snap out of it.

Whitty.

I’m in Melbourne. I am a single parent in an apartment with my son, and my mental health is trash. I tell myself I’m fine, but when I have to open the front door, that’s when the s*it hits the fan.

I had my first panic attack on Friday standing at the front door. I couldn’t breathe, but was also breathing really fast. I thought I was having a heart attack. It felt like my heart was being squeezed from the inside. Then I cried and called a friend who also has anxiety.

What’s really killing me is my son's mental health. Every night he’s expressing huge anxiety, depression and sometimes suicidal thoughts. He’s 12. I calm him down, we talk through it, eventually he sleeps and I try for sleep at 2am.

Then I have to work online while he tries schoolwork. We’re alive, but all the carefully placed structures that kept us as a little family unit ticking along are gone, and we are only just hanging in there.

Kate.

I have never had any mental health issues.

I am currently 13 weeks pregnant, vomiting everyday and I can’t work. I can’t even drink water and I am crying every day. I can’t believe how much being pregnant has affected my mental health. I’m so down and upset all the time. I’m so scared I’ll feel sick for the whole pregnancy. Or what if this is just how mum’s feel? What if I will feel this bad forever? It’s such a horrible feeling losing control over your body and your mind.

Thankfully, I haven’t been affected mentally at all by the pandemic.

Vanessa.

I'm in Sydney and I'm going okay, but I feel like I have a constant feeling of 'calm anxiety' with a touch of underlying sadness.

Carly.

I’m in Sydney and I have just had my first baby. Life feels pretty okay for me given I’m in a bit of a baby bubble. But I have this underlying feeling of sadness because my parents are in QLD. The unpredictability of the border closures and not knowing when they’ll see my daughter again is hard.

Nekkita.

I'm in Perth, and while we are so, so lucky with how controlled COVID-19 has been here, I have been stood down from my job in tourism. I'm so lucky we have JobKeeper, but I am trying to find a job still because we can't survive on JobKeeper forever.

All I think about is 'what if I can't get a job? Why does no one want to employ me? I thought I was a great employee, but I can't get past the email rejection?'

Jennifer.

My mental health is pretty low right now.

I’ve never had such frequent and long-term periods of being so down and anxious. It's more or less sometimes even situational depression... but I want to use that term lightly because I don’t think I’m depressed. Just some things bring it on and I don’t want to leave my room or my bed. I don’t feel myself at all and I’ve been struggling for at least a few weeks now. I find myself to be a positive and happy person but I couldn’t feel further from that right now.

Things annoy me more easily than ever before and even when I plan things they seem like an effort, and I’m just smiling through it.

Carrie.

For me COVID-19 was actually a huge wake up call that I was not looking after my mental health as well as I thought I was.

Before the pandemic I knew I was anxious, but I would bury it with being extra busy and preoccupied with work, friends, exercising etc. I would see a therapist every now and then, but I wasn't in a routine of it. When the pandemic arrived and we were all sent into lockdown I went into the worst depression of my life. I would wake up and not be able to breathe, I could barely get out of bed, my relationships suffered and I was experiencing some really scary thoughts. Thankfully I was/am surrounded by caring people and they got me the help I needed.

I started medication and I am getting regular therapy sessions and it was life-changing. I genuinely believe that COVID-19 forced me to get my mental health in check, and now I never want to stop taking my anti anxiety medication. I feel stronger mentally now than I did pre-COVID.

Carla.

My mental health has really gone down the toilet and out the window. At this point I really don’t know how to pull myself out of it. I’m even too tired to write about my story of s*ittiness to be honest... and access to good mental healthcare for people who can’t afford it is a joke.

Existence is extraordinarily exhausting, which isn’t helped by one extraordinarily unsupportive person in my life. I can’t wait until this year is over but I don’t think next year is going to be any better.

Rachael.

I’m in stage three lockdown in regional Victoria. I’m a step mum to kids we have 100 per cent of the time. I’m feeling closed in by them. I am perimenopausal and haven’t seen my family (who live on the other side of Melbourne) for six months. I also work in healthcare. Just coping is an understatement.

Helen.

I’ve always thought of myself as fairly resilient. I’ve always been good at compartmentalising. I get through what needs to be done and then I decompress/scream/cry later when the crisis is over.

I have a terminally ill mother who I split primary care with along with a full-time job. The background anxiety has just increased and for the first time ever I’ve asked for medication to help me sleep and take the edge off.

It’s a mild sedative/anxiety tablet apparently. It’s helping. I don’t need it every day, just a couple of times a week when I can’t switch off and it feels too much.

Pip.

I am normally a strong, healthy, independent woman, but this weekend I lost my sh*t over the silliest little thing. Yes, I’m Melbourne. I live alone in a new part of the town with only one friend within five kilometres... but this moment surprised me.

I thought I would start my weekend with a hot bath after a busy week at work, but I turned off the pilot light by mistake and couldn’t get it back on. I drove around in the cold getting wetter and wetter trying to find long matches or a long lighter so I could try myself. Four places later, no luck. And that is what broke me. The inability to help myself and the very limited physical support I have access to at the moment made me fall in a heap driving home.

I won’t pretend to know why this was the straw that almost broke the camel's back but I am guessing that most of us have a breaking point. I took to my bed for a day and now I’m back up dressed and running three meetings today. I think all I needed was validation that my feelings were understandable. And I mostly got that over the weekend from the friends I reached out to.

Robyn.

If I'm going to be honest I'm okay at the moment although I have breakdowns regularly. My dad had a massive brain haemorrhage at the start of the year and I'm still trying to deal with that. My husband has exams for his work coming up and if he fails it could ruin his career. I have recently given up alcohol after some bad experiences with binge drinking.

Add all of that to the fact I'm a front line emergency healthcare worker in rural Queensland who is overworked. Everything is okay right now. But I could use a break from my life. I'm just taking it one step at a time.

Emma.

I'm anxious all the time, about big things and about little things. I've got two kids at school and a baby. One of my kids is dyslexic and can't afford to take five months out of schoolwork. My husband and I are both working full time from home.

I start work at 5am to try to fit it in. It's chaos, it's not sustainable, and I am barely coping.

Sadie.

My mental health is all in a very messed up state. I have been stood down indefinitely from my job in events, but have been lucky enough to pick up some alternative work.

The job is mind-numbing and just a toxic environment, so I am mourning my chosen career along with being cooped up alone in Melbourne's stage four lockdown.

A cold last week had me in absolute panic mode thinking “what if...[I have COVID?]” It was highly unlikely and I did the test which was negative, but the aftermath is that I am still exhausted from being in a state of panic for a couple days.

This year was the year I wanted to go out more and focus on my love life and absolutely nothing has worked out so far. The hotlines are good and nice to have, but none of it is replacing a hug and human interaction with people I actually like.

Tracy.

I feel angry, frustrated, let down and I am scared of COVID-19. My child has a non-life threatening developmental condition that we ordinarily manage well. However, it can affect organs in the body and his weight is low.

I have been phoned by the paediatrician to explain his concerns and why I should exercise more caution with our son right now, even though we live in a remote area. I experienced a total dressing down from my mother-in-law yesterday about the whole situation. She told me not to even think about COVID and completely disregarded my feelings and concern. I am angry that I wasn't seen mother-to-mother for the feelings I experienced. I'm angry. I'm scared. I'm concerned about the clusters in Brisbane. We live remotely but we have lots of people travel here.

Bridget.

I’m in Brisbane, where I moved just at the beginning of the year. I moved to be closer to more friends but right now I feel so distant from everyone. It just seems to be an accumulation of things. My sister-in-law's mother died last week and I was really close to her. I wanted to be there for my brother and niece and nephew but they are in Sydney, so no chance. Then a potential relationship ended because he met someone else. Then as a teacher I live in fear of another lockdown... and then there is this underlying anxiety that you have no idea if tomorrow everything will change, so it’s hard to plan. You can’t look forward to anything, because it might get cancelled. It’s so uncertain all the time. And if I hear one more person say 'the war generation had it worse' I’ll scream.

I’ve had tough times in the past, but I think it’s that a lot of the solutions I have - such as spending time with certain friends - aren’t available to me right now due to closed borders.

Peta.

My mental health is suffering as I am taking on the emotional labour for my children even more than normal. Their dad lives in Melbourne and has not seen them since early March, at his dad’s (their grandpa's) funeral. He would usually see the boys every four to six weeks but has been unable to.

It’s been hard as we are able to get on with our lives here in Adelaide, but their dad’s life has stopped and I have to make sure that the boys understand that his life is very different at the moment. It’s also really hard to find work right now with so many others looking too. So I’m caught in the middle of being rejected for work (and it messing with my head) and not applying at all (and it messing with