A crisis support agency is crying out for funding to be restored as it handles the fallout of a cost of living crisis across Bendigo and the wider region.
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Lifeline Loddon Mallee wants $119,000 of state government funding restored as it struggles to keep up with the volume of calls coming.
The emergency funds were originally to help the service keep up with COVID-19 demand and everyone, including at Lifeline, had hoped demand would taper off as the pandemic subsided.
That has not not happened yet, Lifeline Loddon Mallee executive officer Lisa Renato said.
"Standard funding remains for which we are very grateful but without that additional emergency funding it certainly puts a strain on the number of volunteers we can recruit and train," she said.
Demand has now climbed 36 per cent since the start of the pandemic and its centre answered more than 18,000 calls in the 12 months to the end of July, according to Lifeline's figures.
Two people died by suicide each fortnight in 2022 and there had been a "significant increase" in hospitalisations for self-harm, figures supplied by Lifeline suggest.
Nationals member for Northern Victoria Gaelle Broad said the government needed to restore funding.
"That $119,000 is just a drop in the ocean when you look at how important it is to maintain these services," she said.
Shadow mental health minister Emma Kealy said Lifeline had clearly set out the need for the extra funding.
"Most importantly they can show, with evidence, that they are taking pressure off wait lists which continue to grow for Victoria's mental health system," she said.
Ms Renato said the demand for Lifeline's services was down to a host of factors including higher volunteer numbers and people's increased understanding that it's OK to reach out when things get tough.
"In addition to that, I think there's been an ebb and flow of many things impacting people: COVID, floods, cost of living pressures," Ms Renato said.
"We see lots of different pressures come out of those things."
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Ms Renato said Lifeline's existing four-year funding agreement with the government was a solid one and covered 25 per cent of operating costs.
The rest is raised by Lifeline, she said.
The government said it was overhauling the mental health system.
"We are a government that is dedicated to building a system that works for every Victorian," a spokesperson said.
"Our work to rebuild the mental health system is underpinned by a massive expansion to the mental health workforce and in this year's Victorian Budget we delivered the largest investment in our mental health workforce in the state's history."
That funding has included billions of dollars statewide and, after last spring's floods, $250,000 for Lifeline Australia.
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Tom O'Callaghan
I grew up in Bendigo and I want to tell your stories.
I grew up in Bendigo and I want to tell your stories.
