A waste of money is how the government's new mental health spending is being labelled by the group which represents counsellors

Forty million dollars is being given to expand the number of mental health and addiction services available across the country.

But the association of counsellors says a lot of the money will go towards training people.

President Christine Macfarlane questions how it would be helpful for someone to see a newly trained worker, when there are already three thousand registered and practicing counsellors in the country with loads of experience.

She says treatments through medical services don't suit everyone, and other options like counselling need to be considered.