Wait list for people seeking help with addiction blows out, renewing calls for The Lookout

He said the number of people waiting for treatment across the state had risen from 2385 in September last year to 3599 in July this year.

"Wait times for alcohol and other drug rehabilitation is getting, quite frankly, ridiculous," Mr Grimley said.

Western Region Alcohol and Drug Centre director Geoff Soma said the organisation was continuing to have discussions with the state government about The Lookout residential rehabilitation facility, proposed for Dennington.

"Our position is that we think residential beds are very important and more are needed right across Victoria," Mr Soma said. "We are hoping to get funding for The Lookout in the next budget."

Mr Soma said it was promising the state government had included a rehabilitation centre for the south-west as a priority in its 30-year plan unveiled this year.

"The Victorian government is expanding the number of residential rehabilitation beds but regional residents face barriers to accessing treatment," the plan states.

"The regions have too few facilities to meet demand, and services are unevenly distributed and often scarce.

"Within five years, the Victorian Government should build new residential rehabilitation and detoxification facilities in regions where they are not currently available or planned - including the Great South Coast, Mallee, Goulburn and Wimmera-Southern Mallee.

"Communities in the Great South Coast and Mallee regions have particularly urgent needs, given their distance from other centres.

"Facilities should have no fewer than 30 beds, to support a suitable model of care and allow for economies of scale."

The revelation comes as no surprise to a Warrnambool woman who has battled with alcohol addiction for many years.

The woman, who asked not to be named, said there were not enough services for people battling addiction in the south-west. She said she was concerned people may change their mind about seeking help if they had to wait for a long period of time.

"When you need rehab, you need it straight away," she said.

She said she was not surprised the number of people seeking help had risen because she relapsed due to the stress of the coronavirus pandemic.

The woman moved to Australia from overseas some years ago.

"During COVID the borders were closed and my freedom was gone," she said. "I haven't seen my family for two and a half years and that has been a real battle - it's been a very challenging time."

The woman said alcohol was present in all facets of society.

"Anywhere you look, anywhere you go, it's there, it's everywhere."

She said she believed people should be able to talk about their battles with addiction.

"It shouldn't be a taboo subject," she said.

The woman said she was lucky to have two friends who told her she was drinking too much early last year.

"I had two friends who said 'I'm going to take you to rehab'," she said.

Even then, she had to wait 15 days.

When she was sent home to wait for a rehab bed to become available, she admitted she visited the bottle shop.

"There's not enough services in Warrnambool," the woman said.

"There are not enough beds."

The woman said she believed a facility such as the proposed Lookout rehabilitation centre was desperately needed.

Member for South West Coast Roma Britnell said the fact that there were now more than 3500 people on a waiting list for residential rehabilitation beds showed how vital a project like The Lookout was.

"The state government has been aware of The Lookout since 2018, they have known since well before then there is a critical shortage of residential rehab beds across the state - but they have failed to act," Ms Britnell said.

"This project is shovel ready, all that it needs is government funding.

"We need to be helping people who have made the decision to break the cycle of addiction - our region has all the other steps required to assist people on that journey - but the missing piece is residential rehabilitation."

Ms Britnell said the pandemic had placed untold pressure on people.

"I am concerned that they may have fallen into old habits while waiting for a bed," she said.