Dunlop and MacGregor have been chosen as participating suburbs in a national data gathering operation to better understand mental health.

Over several weeks representatives from the Mental Health Foundation ACT will be knocking on doors to ask residents what their concerns are and what they think the shortfalls are in regards to services in Canberra.

Funded by a National Disability Insurance Agency grant scheme, the project will eventually collect data from 24 communities, with findings expected to be released in 2022.

Community Mental Health Australia CEO Bill Gye said around one in four people are at home during the day in the Canberra suburbs, as was the expectation nationally.

He said the door knockers had found a "very significant proportion" of residents in the region living with mental health issues.

"That may be the more common depression and anxiety but in some cases more complicated and more complex mental health issues," Mr Gye said.

While door knocking in Dunlop and MacGregor still had several weeks to go, he said respondents so far had reported concern over a lack of mental health services in Canberra.

"Of those who are getting support, slightly more than half report that the support is inadequate," Mr Gye said.

Despite this, the survey had found Canberra residents reported slightly higher levels of wellbeing than typical across the country.

Mr Gye said evidence showed people with mental health issues often kept their concerns to themselves which subsequently lead to addition problems like alcoholism and domestic violence.

The project aimed to connect with people before further problems developed.

Data gathered during the door knocking will be collated and used to determine areas for future funding.

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"We'll be able to report that back and compare what we find in the ACT alongside the rest of Australia," Mr Gye said.

The project will also evaluate how effective a preventative approach is to helping address Australia's mental health crisis, which was estimated to cost the country $220 billion annually.

Mental Health Foundation ACT project manager Karen McKernan said the preventative aspect of this project was what made it different to usual community mental health measures.

"Most of our other programs are focused on providing services and support to people who come to us and seek our support, either through accommodation programs or outreach programs," Ms McKernan said.

Mr Gye said prevention and early intervention was far more effective than dealing with people in crisis.

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