A coalition of mental health advocates is calling for greater funding for services for children, as a national debate into overall support for people with mental illnesses continues. Convenor of the Children's Mental Health Coalition Professor Louise Newman said on Thursday there should be a greater funding for early intervention programs for children aged up to 12 years.

"They (children) are pretty much ignored in any of the discussions going on about mental health funding," Prof Newman, who is also the president of The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, told AAP.
Advertisement: Story continues below "There is increasing evidence about the importance of early childhood intervention and not waiting until adolescence or adulthood to then try to do something about the problem.

Prof Newman cited mounting research showing early intervention had economic and social benefits.

"Anywhere up to 30 per cent of adult mental health problems are related to negative things that happen to children early on," she said.

"That's huge - so that really suggests that where we should be putting much more emphasis," she said, adding that studies show early treatment reduced rates of crime, created better educational outcomes and decreased drug and alcohol problems.

Prof Newman said that childhood disorders such as autism, attachment disorders, ADHD and anxiety problems left unattended could be exacerbated in later life.

She said mental health funding for children needed to be increased to 15 per cent of the federal government's mental health budget, from less than nine per cent.

The coalition comprises The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists; the Australian Psychological Society; NIFTeY (National Investment for the Early Years); the Australian Infant, Child, Adolescent and Family Mental Health Association; the Australian Association of Infant Mental Health, and the Australian Child and Adolescent Trauma, Loss and Grief Network.

Thegroup on Thursday launched a report - Our Children, Our Future - which makes recommendations for infant and child mental health services in Australia. Earlier this week, federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon told NSW nurses that a lot more spending was needed to improve mental health services around the country.

Health carers and church groups on Wednesday called on both sides of politics to commit to an immediate and substantial increase in investment in mental health services.