Four out of five mental health workers in Victoria have been exposed to violence in the past year, new research shows.
These workers have been either verbally abused, physically assaulted, sexually assaulted, racially abused or bullied.
A survey by The Health and Community Services Union, published in the International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, found 83 per cent of the 400 people surveyed reported exposure to violence, with verbal abuse being the most common, followed by physical violence.
Of the 132 - or 34 per cent - who reported physical assault, six people said a weapon had been used, and in 96 per cent of all physical assaults the perpetrator was the patient or client.
Almost one in three respondents has felt psychological distress over the past 12 months and most cases of bullying or mobbing (six per cent) was caused by a colleague.
Survey participants included nurses, psychologists, occupational therapists and administration staff.
A World Health Organisation questionnaire on workplace violence was used as one tool to compile the research.
HACSU assistant state secretary Paul Healey says the findings are alarming.
"Seventeen per cent of staff who go to work everyday are in extreme stress everyday because of the level of violence," he said.
They've been punched, kicked, bitten, spat on and pushed - and then there are the verbal threats, he says.
Mr Healey hopes the findings shine a light on issue and management take notice.
"They actually have a responsibility to keep all workers safe and they've got a responsibility to make sure that everyone returns home at night in the same condition they went to work," he said.
The union has also renewed calls for more state government investment into mental health services.
