The youth mental health counselling service for the central west, headspace, has a new home.

The official opening of their 206-214 Macquarie Street headquarters also marks their first decade in operation, a time that has also coincided with a doubling during the past five years of demand for their support operations for young local people.

In fact, headspace Dubbo is now the busiest of the six NSW offices operated by Marathon Health, CEO, Megan Callinan revealed.

“The growth that headspace Dubbo has experienced in the past 10 years reflects both the evolving mental health and well-being needs of young people and the changing nature of our workforce, which now more closely reflects our community,” Ms Callinan said.

Nearly half the young people who visited headspace Dubbo also identified as First Nations, four times the average of 12 per cent across headspace centres nationally, she added.

Crucially, the new office is not only home to the headspace team, it is also a key support hub for a network of Aboriginal Youth Wellbeing Workers spread across 10 small Western NSW rural communities delivering outreach youth mental health services, Ms Callinan said.

“The headspace Outreach Program (hOP) is staffed by Aboriginal Youth Wellbeing Workers who took part in an Aboriginal Workforce Development Initiative we developed to grow a workforce to respond to local needs across the communities of Bourke, Brewarrina, Collarenebri, Condobolin, Coonamble, Gulargambone, Lightning Ridge, Nyngan, Walgett, and Warren,” Ms Callinan said.

“We also deliver a youth leadership program for young people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds at Dubbo in response to the changing nature of the city’s population and have peer workers on staff who can share their lived experience of mental health recovery.”

The new centre sits alongside Marathon Health’s new premises in the heart of Dubbo, headspace CEO Jason Trethowan said.

“We're excited to see headspace Dubbo progress further as an innovator in the design and delivery of youth mental health service in rural communities,” Mr Trethowan said.

Brad Porter, CEO of the Western NSW Primary Health Network (WNSW PHN) said he is pleased to see the new headspace location in Dubbo officially open its doors.

“The new location allows for the expansion of vital youth mental health support, closer to where it’s needed, in a modern, well-designed space,” Mr Porter said.

“We’re ensuring that young people across the region have easier access to care, connection, and the confidence to seek help early,” he concluded.