Premier Daniel Andrews has committed to an investment and reform process that will restructure the state's "woeful" mental health system from crisis driven to community led.

In a special briefing to regional media after yesterday's release of a damning royal commission report, Mr Andrews said hospital and acute care had to become "the last resort" for mental health treatment.

Early intervention combined with an expansion of locally-driven specialist services (including extra beds and 24/7 crisis care) will be the focus of the reform initiatives.

Getting to people in crisis much earlier, supporting people to be well and stay well and being able to physically connect to services closer to home will be the drivers of this re-build "from the ground up".

Youth mental health (from the ages of 16 to 25 years) will be given particular priority; mental health practitioners are to be deployed to every secondary school in the state by the end of 2021.

"(Professor) Patrick McGorry has had the view for a long time ... we need to get to them earlier and provide support for a longer journey," Mr Andrews said.

The findings of a two-year inquiry into Victoria's mental health crisis outlined 65 recommendations, which the Premier has committed to implementing.

"It's not a one-budget, one-year" fix, he warned while promising the May budget would deliver "substantial additional investment" to implement the findings.

Asked how he would measure the success of the reforms, Mr Andrews pointed out suicide accounted for "twice the road toll".

"The stark measure is in the number of people taking their lives," he said.

"Even one suicide is too many.

"We don't want people getting to that crisis point where the only way forward, in their judgement, is to take their life.

"If someone attempts to take their life, we need to wrap supports around that person and their family ... and we need to roll that out across the state."

Addressing staff shortages in an under-resourced sector will be a key component, particularly in rural areas.

The Premier did not rule out incentive schemes to attract health workers to hard-to-fill roles - "and even roles we haven't thought of".

"A system in crisis always finds it hard to attract staff but with this reform journey ... and the political will, the workforce will be driven by those who work there now," he said.

Mr Andrews also said Victoria's Mental Health and Wellbeing Act would be re-written with a focus on strengthening accountability, service monitoring and reducing rates of restrictive practices and compulsory treatment.

A new Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission will be established to act as an independent watchdog to keep the government accountable on all the recommendations it has committed to implementing.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has praised the thousands of people who bravely told of a mental health system that "catastrophically failed" them.

"This is what makes the (Royal Commission) report such an important document," he said during an online briefing with regional journalists after it was tabled to Parliament yesterday.

"It was the people with lived experience, who know this system best, that have been involved in the process.

"We need to thank them for their courage and absolute commitment ... to saving lives, to tell their stories and speak to the very real failures of this system."

And as the state government embarks on a massive reform process and investment program to "right the wrongs from the ground up", the Premier said it would continue to look to local communities for direction.