The Treat yo'self suicide prevention and mental health campaign, launched on Tuesday evening, aims to encourage young Canberrans to look after their mental heath, Minister for Children and Young People Mick Gentleman said.

Youth in ACTion for Suicide Prevention chairperson Maddeline Mooney, 26, said the campaign was asking Canberrans to help create a visual library of "self-care" role models.

"We're asking them to take photos of themselves engaging in self-care activities and post them on social media with the hashtag #treatyoself and #YIACTion and when they do that, they'll go in the draw to win self-care prizes," she said.

"The big part of self-care that we're focusing on with Treat yo'self is taking time out to have fun and relax. It can be as simple as taking 10 minutes to have a cup of tea or going for a run if that's what you like to do."

Youth in ACTion also has nine animal mascots called care creatures that they hope will be passed from person to person to feature in the social media campaign.

Ms Mooney said Youth in ACTion aimed to promote self-care and help-seeking behaviour.

"People need to monitor and be mindful of their own well-being, they need to identify when something isn't right or could be improved in their life and they need to take action to improve that situation and subsequently improve their well-being," she said.

Mr Gentleman said campaigns such as Treat yo'self that addressed issues such as suicide and mental illness were shown to have "significant benefits both socially and economically".

"It has been estimated that for every suicide at least six people suffer intense grief and between 80-100 more may be affected," Mr Gentleman said.

This week there is also a Let's Talk for Suicide Prevention campaign targeting people of working age, offering free workplace training and information sessions on depression, anxiety and suicide prevention.

OzHelp Foundation chief executive Tony Holland said the joint initiative by ACT Health, OzHelp, Lifeline Canberra, Menslink, Supportlink and Carers ACT recognised that most people who took their own lives were of working age.

About 30 sessions have already been booked to coincide with World Suicide Prevention Day on Wednesday.

"This means we will train approximately 1000 people over the week across the ACT to identify signs of anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts in the people around them," Mr Holland said.

ACT Medicare Local is also urging Canberrans to speak to their GP if they need support.

Readers seeking support can contact Lifeline on 131 114.