THE manager of a youth mental health organisation in Swan Hill supports the need for more services for adults in the region with mental health issues.
headspace Swan Hill manager Ian Johansen said the region would be pleased the Royal Commission into Victoria's Mental Health System interim report increased focus on children.
There are two recommendations in the report, which was tabled in parliament late last month, relating to child and youth mental health.
The 660-page report documents the findings of the royal commission, with more than 8200 submissions made to the commission.
The final report will be handed down next October.
The first of two recommendations specifically targeting children and youth was the need for an extra 170 youth and adult acute mental health beds.
The second is the expansion of the Hospital Outreach Post-suicidal Engagement (HOPE) program into all area mental health services; which is linked to sub-regional health services.
"As well as a new assertive outreach and follow-up care service for children and young people, to increase the availability of support and outreach for Victorians at risk of suicide," the recommendation said.
Mr Johansen said the recommendations that alarmed him related to "the missing middle", emergency departments and greater support for children and families.
"They were the ones that stood out to me because of their relevance locally," he said.
"I'm really looking forward to the whole outcome.
"I think families and people, and even for adults, they're thinking differently about that early intervention."
Mr Johansen said there was also a lack of options available for children under 11 in the region.
"I think for those really young ones, they're generally seeking help from their parents," he said.
"I think the fact families will have greater support is good."
Mr Johansen believed the interim report was comprehensive.
"Just even their commitment to taking on all the recommendations, it's obvious that there's a real appetite for the improvement of the delivery of better health services in Victoria," he said.
"They (the team behind the commission) received advice from people who are not only leaders in mental health support, but around the world.
"I like the focus on supporting emergency department, because often people present in crisis, they're talking about a system that helps follow-up people, they get the post follow-up."
Premier Daniel Andrews said Victorians will pay a new tax to fund mental health after the royal commission found years of chronic underinvestment in the sector led to a system that "catastrophically failed to live...
