RURAL mental health services are expected to be improved and enhanced, under a new data collection program planned by Ambulance Victoria and Monash University.
A world-first mapping system will plot areas where there is high male self-harm and suicide - as well as hot-spots for men with poor mental health.
Monash University Professor Dan Lubman will lead the National Ambulance Mental Health Project.
"A training program will be developed for paramedics to enhance their skills when dealing with presentations of mental health, self-harm and suicidal behaviour," Prof Lubman said.
"Our work shows that one in five ambulance attendances are for mental health issues.
"But frequently men do not link with services for ongoing support despite contact with emergency services."
The project would result in the development of a range of low-cost approaches to help men access ongoing support, he said.
Ambulance Victoria Gippsland regional manager, Mick Stephenson, said the project would build on earlier work, done on drug related incidents.
The organisation had been working with Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre for 10 years, so had a rich database to draw upon.
"Every patient we see goes into our clinical information system," Mr Stephenson said.
Ambulance officers were increasingly being called upon to deal with people with mental health concerns, he said.
"Three quarters don't need treatment, but it is a significant - and growing - part of our business.
"We understand, full well, the mental health issues in rural communities and depressed economic areas are far greater than those seen in other areas, so it is worth doing to put strategies in place and devote resources to them," he said.
He stressed no patient would be able to be identified from the data.
"The health system collects data every year and no-one has ever been able to be identified, there is no risk of that."
"This is about building a program so we can provide better mental health care, not provide more ambulances."
Data for the next three years will be captured by academics from Monash University's Faculty of Information Technology and School of Psychological Sciences.
Beyondblue CEO, Georgie Harman, said the project would gather unprecedented information about the mental health of men and identify opportunities to help them in a way that was previously impossible.
"It will reveal the profiles of men paramedics attend, where they are and why they need help," Ms Harman said.
"By tracking their progress through the health system, we can also see which men get appropriate treatment, which men don't and why not."
The project is one of eight being delivered as part of the Movember Foundation's $22.3 million Australian Mental Health Initiative.
It is focused on men because they seek support less often than women, but were three times more likely to die by suicide.