Patients currently staying at the Wangaratta psychiatric inpatient unit, one of two run by Albury Wodonga Health, took part in "Chalk it Up for Mental Health".

It was an idea devised by one of the environmental services staff at the facility. A simple and effective way to share experiences of mental health.

But asking somebody about their psychological well-being, and how to respond to the answer, remains a scary thing for many people.

Lucie Shanahan, Albury Wodonga Health's executive director for mental health, puts forward a simple way to become more comfortable with the idea.

"A lot of people know about first aid training in terms of CPR, but mental first aid courses teach those initial skills we need around how to support someone whose mental health is deteriorating," she said.

"Those courses are run routinely through various organisations, and I'd really encourage people to keep an eye out for them.

"As much as you can do CPR, how do you ask questions to keep your mates psychologically well and safe?

"It's that first line of support you can offer someone."

Last year AWH had over 1100 mental health admissions, delivering services across 12 sites and 50,000 hours of community contact.

"We have about 300,000 people in our catchment area and the stats tell us in any given year, 60,000 of those people will experience a deterioration in their mental well-being," Dr Shanahan said.

"We know that in particular around Albury-Wodonga, our population is growing and part of that is growth in young families.

"In 75 per cent of people, mental illness is apparent before the age of 24.

"We're looking at our services at the moment to try and determine how we can have the best possible service structure for the future."

In a submission to the Royal Commission into Victoria's Mental Health System, Adult Mental Health operations director Brian Kennedy wrote that regional child and adolescent inpatient units "would go some way to alleviating unreasonable travel expectations, and providing improved access".

"When a child or adolescent who resides in the AWH catchment region requires a specialist mental health admission, the current options are to transfer them to Box Hill, Victoria or Orange, New South Wales," he said.

There is also demand at the other end of the spectrum, with Cognitive Dementia and Memory Service referrals growing from 212 in 2016 to 264 last year.

"It is evident that more staff are needed in mental health services for people in crisis, as well as people who are at risk of crisis," he wrote.

"Currently staff resources in acute mental health services are almost exhausted responding to those in the community seeking assistance."

IN OTHER NEWS:

Dr Shanahan said the feedback, plus a joint submission with other regional health services, highlighted the differences in mental health needs in rural areas.

"We wanted to make sure that context was understood, and also the Royal Commission had a clear understanding ... about the difficulty sometimes of accessing mental health services in regional areas, because we're a bit more thinly spread.

"It's harder to get into some of the smaller towns to be available to people at the right time."

Mental health, and mental illness - what happens when you experience a deterioration in your mental health - is a topic branching into more and more everyday conversations.

Dr Shanahan said there were two key messages from her perspective.

"One is for people to seek support and assistance - our GPs are fantastic at helping people find additional support," she said.

"The other key part to that is us not being afraid to ask someone if they're OK, and if they're not OK, how can we help them? Can we help them attend a medical appointment or help them make contact with a counselling service?

"If your gut tells you someone is not OK, help them to find professional advice.

"Seeking support is never a foolish or a risky thing to do; it's a smart and safe thing to do.

"Like any other illness, mental health is recoverable."