Prime Minister Julia Gillard said Tuesday she plans to beef up mental health service with a $277 million fund dedicated to preventing suicides among 12,500 suicidal and depressed people.

The plan set for implementation upon her Labor government's reelection involve crisis intervention, counseling service, psychiatric sessions, training of more frontliners and community workers, identifying suicide hotspots, assisting the mentally ill and increasing calls by Lifeline Australia. Outreach teams will also be established at schools to prevent students from copying suicides.

Gillard said the plan prioritises the identification of and support men at greater risk of depression and suicide. Support will be in the form of helping care for their children.

The government recognises that better youth mental health services is an area where further investment is needed and that our existing network of services will need to be scaled up over time, Ms Gillard said, according to Theaustralian.com.

Julia Gillard Medicine