Three new full-time community mental health workers will be employed in Hunter New England, and Newcastle will get a full-time mental health housing liaison officer.
These were the region's key wins in the NSW government's newly announced $111.8 million four-year program for mental health.
But there was no funding for the expansion of Safe Havens, which are places to go for those feeling suicidal, distressed or distraught.
Newcastle's Safe Haven is open only three days a week for five hours a day.
A parliamentary inquiry into mental health care in NSW, released on Tuesday, recommended the Safe Haven program be made a 24/7 service.
Hunter Medical Research Institute chief executive Frances Kay-Lambkin said Safe Havens were "a diversion strategy" that "help with that acute crisis period".
"Often it's supervision that's required," said Professor Kay-Lambkin, who backs the expansion of Safe Havens.
Nonetheless, she said the new funding package was "desperately needed and overdue".
"There is always room for much more investment and strategy," she said.
The NSW Mental Health Alliance, which is pushing for 24-7 Safe Havens, said it was disappointed with the Minns government's funding announcement.
The alliance said the announcement amounted to "hidden cuts to critical mental health programs".
It said the funding, which forms part of the NSW budget due on June 18, was "a mere 0.95 per cent per year of the annual mental health budget of $2.9 billion".
"The announced funding comes nowhere near the amount required to address the structural gaps in the NSW mental health system," the alliance stated.
Evelyne Tadros, of the alliance, urged the government to "commit to increase and maintain funding across the entire mental health system".
Dr Tadros said the priority should be "community-based mental health services".
Within its announcement, the government committed $30.4 million over four years for community mental health teams.
This covers 35 additional mental health positions in NSW, including the four in Hunter New England.
Newcastle MP Tim Crakanthorp said the funding would help "the most vulnerable Novocastrians when they need it most".
Shadow mental health minister Robyn Preston said the Labor government had "lost control of the state's budget".
Ms Preston sad this had led to "cuts and underfunding of important services like mental health".
"Our mental health care system is getting further fragmented, leading to worse outcomes," she said.
The Newcastle Herald revealed last month that more than 10,000 people are being turned away from emergency departments annually for mental health issues in Hunter New England and the Central Coast.
And about 120,000 people in the Hunter live with "high levels of psychological distress".
The government's statewide response to this problem was to provide an extra $39 million over four years to establish a "Mental Health Single Front Door" program.
Those in need will be able to call the Healthdirect phone line and receive "assessment and advice from specialist clinicians who will connect them with appropriate services".
The government said this would "reduce avoidable emergency department presentations, which will improve patient flow".
NSW Mental Health Minister Rose Jackson said the government's announcement was "an important step" in its mental health policy, but "not the final one".
"I am committed to continuing to work with experts in the field on long-term interventions."
Amanda Cohn, who chaired the inquiry, said the strength of findings and the 39 recommendations showed the "scale of the change needed in the mental health system".
Samuel Harvey, of the Black Dog Institute, called for the Minns Government to "urgently implement" the inquiry's recommendations.
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