Staff have been delivering community suicide prevention awareness programs to individuals, community organisations and businesses online throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

Lifeline Ballarat program manager Jodie van Schie said it was important to reduce stigma surrounding mental health and break down barriers to seeking help, particularly during this challenging time.

"What these courses do is provide people with the knowledge and the skills to have those conversations with people and recognise the signs of when someone is starting to develop a mental health issue," she said.

"It also increases people's mental health literacy and makes it okay to talk about mental health like you would talk about physical health because mental health is part of your overall health.

"You can't look at your mental health as separate because it affects every other aspect of your overall health and well-being."

Lifeline is currently receiving around 3000 calls per day nationally, compared to 2000 a day at the same time last year.

August was Lifeline's second busiest month ever in 57 years with more than 89,000 calls received nationally.

Last week, 48 per cent of callers nationwide mentioned coronavirus and 17 per cent of callers discussed the Melbourne lockdown.

Lifeline usually offers a range of in-person training workshops, but has been offering Mental Health First Aid and Accidental Counsellor online instead throughout the pandemic.

The Mental Health First Aid course provides knowledge and skills in dealing with anxiety, depression and substance use disorders.

The training includes how to talk to someone if you think they are developing a mental health issue or if they are in a crisis situation.

Accidental Counsellor teaches participants to recognise when someone is in a crisis situation, to have the skills and knowledge to respond appropriately and to connect them with assistance.

Other courses that will resume when restrictions allow include Safe Talk to train people to recognise the signs of suicide and link people in with help, and DV Aware and DV Alert which focus on family violence.

"We want to encourage people to reach out and talk to someone if they are going through a crisis situation or are developing a mental health issue and we want to upskill people in the community with the knowledge, the behaviours and the skills to have that conversation," Ms van Schie said.

"It is about breaking the barriers down and reducing the stigma of talking about mental health."

Lifeline Ballarat will also be hosting an information session for people interested in becoming volunteer crisis supporters for the call centre in November.

Contact Lifeline Ballarat on 9051 7471 for more information about workshops or volunteer training.