Underfunding of mental health services will result in long waiting times and a spike in suicides and attempted suicides, psychotherapist Kyle MacDonald said.

The government's $3.7 million Kaikoura earthquake relief package was a fraction of the support requested by Canterbury health authorities and mental health advocates say people will suffer as a result.

Documents obtained by Stuff show the Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) submitted a proposal on November 27 for a relief package totalling $12.8m for psycho-social recovery in Kaikoura, Hurunui and Nelson-Marlborough to cover a one year period .

The request included more than 30 additional community support workers, counsellors and clinical staff, up to 12 months of free GP visits for Kaikoura residents and free medication.

IAIN MCGREGOR/FAIRFAX NZ A $3.7m Kaikoura earthquake relief package for psycho-social support was a fraction of the amount asked for by the Canterbury District Health Board.

The DHB's experience of the 2011 earthquakes and international evidence showed that on average 10 per cent of the population were likely to be so traumatised by a disaster they would need ongoing help from targeted services and up to 5 per cent may require intensive psycho-social interventions , the CDHB proposal stated.

READ MORE:

* Post-quake addiction surge expected after Kaikoura

* Social agencies anticipate rise in domestic abuse post-quake

* Small town homeowners under-insured for Kaikoura quake rebuilds

The government's relief package included funding for nine additional health practitioners for Kaikoura and Marlborough, free GP visits for six months and the write off of Kaikoura District Council's $2m debt for a new health centre.

Minister of Health Jonathan Coleman said at the time it was deliberately short term for one year, to "allow immediate assistance to be in place while a longer term, wider psycho-social recovery response was considered".

Psychotherapist and mental health advocate Kyle MacDonald said inadequate funding would result in increased pressure on services and longer waiting times.

"We're going to see increased pressure on services... we would expect waiting lists to blow out and unfortunately at the sharp end we would expect to see deaths as a consequence, we would expect suicides to spike."

MacDonald said mental health colleagues in Canterbury were particularly concerned about the effect of the disaster on children.

"The waiting lists for kids has just got longer and longer and so what you see is anxiety, difficulty engaging with school, kids presenting quite young with severe anxiety symptoms because they are living in this sort of swamp of tension and anxiety."

By January 31, about 4000 people had taken advantage of free GP visits since the earthquake, director of mental health John Crawshaw said.

In Kaikoura and North Canterbury 57 people have been referred for counselling and over 300 people have been seen by specialist mental health staff, CDHB manager of planning and funding Carolyn Gullery​ said.

People are presenting with increased anxiety, stress, fatigue, and fear while a number of parents were concerned about signs of trauma in their children.

Increased alcohol and drug use and incidents of family violence have also been reported by staff, Gullery said.

CDHB asked to extend the Greater Christchurch well-being campaign All Right? to Hurunui, Kaikoura and Nelson-Marlborough at a cost of $500,000. The government's package includes $200,000 towards an All Right? health promotion worker for Marlborough.

Ministry officials considered the CDHB proposal to be too wide in scope, including "business as usual responsibilities of the DHB and other government agencies", according to a briefing document on the package prepared for the Ministers of Health and Finance.

It noted the CDHB felt the government's funding package did "not go far enough in providing psycho-social recovery supports for the Kaikoura region".

Labour health spokeswoman Annette King said the Ministry's response was "miserly".

"If anybody knows the outcome of a disaster and the down-stream costs it has to be the Canterbury DHB because they have been living in deficit, in terms of what they can provide and the funding they've got since the earthquakes."