Financial counsellors in Ballarat are encouraging people experiencing financial hardship to seek help early and understand there are options for the future.

Child and Family Services Ballarat offers free financial counselling, a service staff anticipate to be in high demand in coming months due to the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

CAFS financial counselling team coordinator Colin Hendreck said it was important for people to know help was available.

"Our primary goal is to share hope and to help people understand there is a way forward," he said.

Senior staff in the banking and forecasting sectors predict Australia could be headed for an unemployment rate of 15 per cent or more. It currently stands at 5.1 per cent.

Long queues of laid-off staff formed outside Centrelink buildings in March as businesses began shutting their doors.

The hospitality sector alone employs more than 10 per cent of Australians and has taken a massive hit with forced reductions to takeaway and delivery only.

"People are overwhelmed about how the future is going to shape up for them," Mr Hendreck said.

"Many of the people we are hearing from feel they can cope in the next few weeks because they have received redundancy entitlements perhaps or they know they are going to have double Centrelink payments if they were on the JobSeeker payment, but they don't know how it is all going to work out a few months from now.

"It is the unknown quantity of the COVID-19 timeline that has a lot of people overwhelmed and anxious, not knowing when their personal situation might improve and how it can improve."

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Mr Hendreck said the role of financial counsellors included understanding the implications of financial hardship for people's mental health and well-being.

"Having financial well-being leads to overall well-being," he said.

"Whether it is mental health or physical health, that can be impacted negatively by financial burdens and uncertainty. We certainly see that and part of our role is to help people identify that in themselves.

"Obviously the biggest part of our role is to resolve financial problems they come to see us about, so often we hear our clients express a sigh of relief when they know there is a solution, a remedy or a way to manage through their difficulties.

"In other cases there are more deep seated issues that need to be addressed and part of our function is to discuss that with clients, to identify symptoms and to refer appropriately."

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Mr Hendreck said the economic impact of COVID-19 was comparable to the global financial crisis.

"At that time there were people impacted who had never previously experienced financial hardship of great measure," he said.

"We anticipate it will be a long haul to recovery. We were still seeing people who were impacted about two or three or four years later after the 2008 event.

"Sometimes it takes a long time for some people who are quite resilient normally to come to the realisation that they might need some outside help for the first time in their lives.

"I would strongly encourage anyone who is experiencing financial hardship, perhaps even for the first time in their lives, to seek help early."

CAFS' financial counselling team can also provide support for people who may be struggling with gambling.

To access the free financial counselling service, call 5337 3333 or email intake@cafs.org.au.

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