NEARLY half of the Australian population will experience a mental disorder at some stage in their lives.

It's something Aftercare's Christina Waldron would like you to think about during Mental Health Week.

Ms Waldron said she wanted to shed some light next week on an illness so common, yet still so stigmatised.

"Mental Health Week is about raising awareness in the community around the fact that people live here every day with mental health issues,” she said.

"I know it's called mental health week but it should really be called mental health year because it's a constant presence in the lives of people with it.”

Ms Waldron said the main aim of the week was to "de-stigmatise the fact that people with mental illness live amongst us and they are probably a loved one or a work colleague or a sister or brother - it doesn't discriminate.”

"It's about being aware that for people with a mental illness it is a daily struggle,” she said.

"Just to have people a little more tolerant around the fact that yes there is depression and anxiety but there's also other forms.”

Ms Waldron said mental health services needed improvement across the Maranoa, which was another issue she wanted to highlight next week.

"The services we work with do their utmost, with very little resources, for members of the community with a mental illness,” she said.

"They are sometimes fighting an uphill battle to help their clients.

"We need more service providers, definitely.

"We need more psychologists on the ground, and more flexibility around what psychologists are available as we only have one, and no specialist child psychologist.”

Ms Waldron said it would be great to have more early intervention services for young people in the Maranoa, such as drop-in centres.

One of the centrepiece events of Mental Health Week is the film 'Healing Voices', which screens at Cinema Roma on Monday afternoon.

There is also the opening of an art exhibition 'Art in Mind', on Tuesday from 5.30pm.

Mental Health Week begins on Monday, October 10.