Bendigo residents said the services would be more accessible.

Improving access to services was a prominent theme to arise during a workshop the National Mental Health Commission staged in Bendigo.

Fifty people participated in the workshop, which was intended to help shape a vision for national mental health and suicide prevention systems in 2030.

The National Mental Health Commission is making its way to more than 20 communities throughout Australia to seek people's perspectives.

The turnout at the Long Gully Community Centre was among the biggest of any workshop the commission has staged, so far.

Asked to provide big ideas or initiatives that would improve mental health in their community, a number of attendees turned their attention to the pathways to care.

"Do mental health care plans have to be initiated by a GP? Can this type of plan be given to a nurse practitioner or mental health nurse / social worker to complete, to make the process quicker and easier to access?" one participant asked.

Another suggested funding be made available for crisis assessments in the home.

"Specific mental health triage at Emergency Departments, in a separate space, using teleservice in more remote locations," was also among the responses.

Workshop participants called for a safe, supervised site staffed by mental health specialists that allowed access to community members to sleep, eat, shower, access assessments and cognitive behavioural therapy or medication as required.

Participants suggested telemedicine be used to help overcome distance as a barrier to accessing professional supports.

They also emphasised the importance of supports within communities.

Participants suggested there be accreditation for therapy and emotional support pets.

"Programs that teach people to keep a companion animal" was one idea.

Another was: "Training for teachers, managers, employees, coaches, etc on mental health first aid."

Participants suggested the mental health and suicide prevention systems better equip the community to help its members.

"It takes a village around you to get better," a participant said.

Bendigo residents said funding for peer support initiatives such as Grow groups and Clubhouses should increase.

They suggested a system comparable to the Alcoholics Anonymous movement, capable of operate as a type of triage group, be established.

"Preventative measures like exercise programs for people with depression. This could save government money in the long run in mental health and general health as well," a participant said.

Bendigo headspace's Colleen Travers said she was surprised by an apparent lack of awareness of services available within the community.

She highlighted the need for services to come together and let people know what was available in Bendigo and work together to address with access to services.

Lack of faith, confidence and trust in the system were some of the biggest barriers to seeking help in Bendigo, participants said.

Other hindrances included a lack of access to services and being sent home without follow-up or ongoing support.

One participant said they were tired of having to tell their story over and over again, with no result.

Another said they were tired of fighting the system.

"There's no choice or control over my path to recovery," one person said.

Fear was also holding people back: fear of not being listened to, or that no-one would care; and fear of shame, stigma and embarrassment.

One participant raised a lack of cultural sensitivity associated with services.

"As an Aboriginal, I find the language used in the wider sector is not culturally inclusive or welcoming. Where's the understanding of the multiple generations of dislocation, of recurring trauma, of spiritual wellbeing?" they said.

Stigma was the most common word Bendigo participants associated with mental health.

Isolation, depression and anxiety closely followed, along with the words suicide and underfunded.

Murray Primary Health Network chief executive Matt Jones said he was not surprised stigma weighed so heavily on people's minds.

"People that are contending with mental illness are vulnerable, and at the very point where we should be encouraging people to reach out and get support the concern is they'll be judged negatively and that the identification of their mental health needs has a real adverse impact upon how they are seen by friends, family, colleagues, and neighbours.

"Stigma actually stifles the ability to reach out at that very point they need to and keeps mental illness hidden and doesn't allow people to enjoy the same level of care and concern that physical ailments bring."

He said the associations between mental health and stigma were reflective of the regional context of the discussions.

"In small communities people are more visible and more connected to each other, which heightens the impact of adverse reactions to people identifying or seeking help for mental illness," he said.

Mr Jones said the workshop's participants spoke passionately and from their own experiences and frustrations with the mental health system.

"We need the system to respond accordingly to look at prevention and early intervention to enable people to manage their own mental health before it escalates to mental illnesses that require specialised and specific levels of care provided through mental health services that are so challenging to provide in regional and rural areas," he said.

"We need a whole-of-system response... a whole-of-community response to improve the mental health system and the ability of people to get help when they need it wherever they're living and at whatever state they are at in terms of mental health and wellbeing."

National Mental Health Commission chief executive Christine Morgan said stigma had been a common theme raised during the workshops, so far.

While she said communities were generally much more aware of mental health and better able to talk about it, high levels of stigma remained.

People's responses during workshops also indicated they felt as though they had to fit into a mental health system that was "pretty clunky".

Ms Morgan said the availability of services was the second most commonly raised topic during the workshops.

"The more remote a community, the more difficulty there can be in having services and having choices of service," she said.

"There is a strong feeling, particularly in Indigenous or culturally diverse communities, that the system does not reflect or respect their culture.

"Sometimes the language we use around mental health can be a very real challenge."

She said many parents and carers of people with mental health conditions had the sense of being unable to access information that would help them understand and support their loved one.

Ms Morgan said the National Mental Health Commission was not seeking to understand how existing systems could be amended to better meet people's needs.

It aimed to learn what systems that were really working would look like, and to create them.

"Rather than be led by affordability or payment issues, we need to look at what is the evidence-based, appropriate care for various disorders across the mental health range," Ms Morgan said.

"We will take all ideas and embrace all conversations."

The consultation process is still underway. The next steps will be creating a vision, and then a 'road map' to guide how to make it a reality.

Ms Morgan said she was aiming to present the vision to the federal health minister and Prime Minister by the end of the calendar year.

She said the National Mental Health Commission would seek to work with each of the states, including Victoria, where a separate Royal Commission into Mental Health is underway.

"What is needed now is a unified mental health system that takes a whole-of-person, whole-of-life, whole-of-community approach to mental health. A system which is accessible in community, is easy to navigate, and delivers meaningful outcomes for the individual. At its heart, a vision of a new system will essentially respond to a person's individual needs in their community," Ms Morgan said.

An online survey is open until September 8, for those interested in participating:

https://consultation.mentalhealthcommission.gov.au/policy-projects/connections/

If your or someone you know needs help, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or BeyondBlue on 1300 22 4636.

If life is in danger, call 000.