Mr Ryot, aged 36, has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and says he overcame his darkest days with the help of his family and Wagga's Community Mental Health Service.

"It sounds like in Wagga it's hard to see either [a psychiatrist or a psychologist], but I've always just gone through Community Mental Health," he said.

Mr Ryot recently began his Masters degree and said he felt supported by his employers and his fly-in-fly-out psychiatrist, whom he has been seeing since 2004.

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He has had a positive experience with his doctor but said he would like to see more psychiatrists based permanently in the city.

"[That] would be the first biggest thing that would be the best improvement to mental health in Wagga," he said.

Mat Coleman, a regional psychiatrist and commissioner with the National Mental Health Commission, said retaining rural psychiatrists was a complex challenge.

"And it'll continue, unless we structurally change the way in which we recruit and train professionals," he said.

"We're slowly getting there with general practice, but we need a doubling down, tripling down for specialists. So medical schools, junior doctor placements, specialist training, all needs to occur in the country in larger numbers than it does in the city."

Associate Professor Coleman said the Royal Australian College of Psychiatrists was "constantly trying to recruit" rural doctors.

He believes mental health funding and resources are "stretched way too far" in regional Australia.

"Throughout Australia there's no parity of esteem and there's no parity of funding when it comes to mental health versus physical health," he said.

Murrumbidgee Primary Health Network chief executive officer Melissa Neal has said private psychiatry is available for those who are not suitable clients for Community Mental Health.

"Wagga residents also can access services such as Psych2U and Doketela telehealth services which provide bulk-billed psychiatry services," Ms Neal said.

Meanwhile, developers planning to build a new $7 million psychiatric care facility in Wagga are awaiting the green light from Council.

The Riverina Clinic proposal seeks approval from Wagga City Council to build a single-storey inpatient psychiatric centre with an attached outpatient clinic on Edward Street, near the intersection of Dobney Avenue.

Wagga is currently home to only one part-time private psychiatrist, who spends some of his time in Canberra, as well as a public psychiatrist who recently finished his training and will work between the Wagga Base Hospital and Community Mental Health Services.

Fly-in-fly-out doctors still provide the majority of Wagga's psychiatric care.

If you need support or are struggling with mental illness, please contact any of these crisis support helplines: