Demand is surging for an early-intervention mental health support program aiming to help Victorians languishing on waiting lists to see clinical psychologists.

NewAccess is a free, early-intervention mental health program run by Beyond Blue, in which specially trained coaches provide low-intensity cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) to people experiencing mild to moderate anxiety and depression.

Suffering from post-traumatic stress and struggling with the costs of a related legal battle, Annie discovered the program while on a months-long waiting list to see a psychologist.

"It was the only thing that helped me. I was really struggling," Annie told AAP.

She connected to the program remotely and began sessions with a coach in Victoria's northeast.

"It actually saved me," Annie said.

"I had a really amazing therapist... and because I did the homework, it really helped me.

"My husband says I'm a completely different person three months down the track because of the program."

NewAccess coaches undertake 12 months of intensive CBT training and receive ongoing guidance from clinicians.

Beyond Blue CEO Georgie Harman said demand for the service across Victoria had surged 80 per cent in August, and the organisation was in the process of enlisting more coaches.

"What this tells us is that there is huge interest in affordable, effective and easy-to-access ways to manage common life stressors, which we know can really challenge our mental health if left unchecked," Ms Harman said.

Beyond Blue said seven out of 10 NewAccess participants reported a significant reduction in depression and anxiety symptoms.

Ms Harman said the goal was to create new, complementary workforces to allow the mental health system to better match people with the support they need.

"The existing mental health workforce is facing extraordinary demand," she said.

Mental health practitioner and Prevention United CEO Stephen Carbone said the supply of mental health support was especially an issue in the regions.

"In some rural, regional areas, you don't even have the counsellors, let alone the trained clinical psychologists," Dr Carbone said.

"If you can help people early at milder cases, it saves them needing to go to the clinical psychologist, so the clinical psychologist can ... see the more complex cases, which really do require their skill set."

Australian Psychological Society (APS) president Tamara Cavenett said all measures should be taken to ensure coaches were trained and supervised by qualified psychologists.

"Unlike coaches, psychologists can diagnose mental illness and offer a tailor-made treatment for each patient," she said.

"While the APS recognises the current workforce shortages are unacceptable, the more effective long-term solution is growing the psychology workforce to ensure more accessible, sustainable and affordable care for all Australians."

Mrs Cavenett said the federal government could create an additional 11,600 psychologists a year if they funded additional supervisors and university places.

Louise Barlow, a NewAccess coach in Albury-Wodonga with more than a decade of experience in recovery and rehabilitation, said clinical supervision helped coaches determine when participants needed a higher level of care.

"It's about not working beyond our scope, being able to support people that fit within within the program, and stepping them up if they need that higher-intensity treatment," Mrs Barlow said.