DEMANDS for youth help services offered to the North West's young people are on the rise, says Young People Ahead (YPA) president Adrian Hepi.
The recent spate in suicides across the region has highlighted the importance of community institutions in providing a safe and trustworthy place for troubled teens to seek help.
Volatile substance misuse (VSM) coordinator at YPA Liz Toeke said the YPA staff had continuously worked to build strong relationships with young people to provide a supportive base to cater for their needs.
"Staff regularly check in with young people to ensure positive social well being," she said.
Mr Hepi said the increased use of services, such as the VSM, offered by the non-profit community organisation correlated with the widespread prevalence of the suicide issue, as well as homelessness and drug abuse.
"In our VSM program, we've probably seen a 10 per cent increase, up from last year," Mr Hepi said.
"It's a great service that is being used because it does provide a safety net for young people in Mount Isa."
Ms Toeke said YPA's new location brought an increase in visitors with the centre now seeing up to 80 young people per month.
That figure was dependent on current social trends, she said.
"Young people are accessing the service primarily for diversion activities with the option of our drop-in service," Ms Toeke said.
She said the service focused on young people who were generally under the assumption that "there is nothing to do in this town," or had an "I'm bored" mentality.
YPA is about to encounter its busiest time of year in the October to December periods which coincided with the end of school semester and Christmas holiday period.
Ms Toeke said YPA was consistently working with other government and community organisations to plan, implement and evaluate programs and activities to combat boredom.
She said the most effective programs were those that were conducted in direct accordance with the youth of Mount Isa because the youth were the ones who chose when to participate.
"We have more successful outcomes from developing programs in consultation with young people," Ms Toeke said.
"It's a way of giving them a voice and sense of belonging in society."
While Mr Hepi agreed that while there were many community services offered to the district's youth, they were often not used by those who needed them most.
"A lot of the times when people are homeless or on the streets they don't use those services, whether it be for shame of being asked about where they live or other reasons," he said.
The popularity of the programs offered by YPA has meant the group is looking to establish a bigger venue.
"We've got a great new centre but even now it's too small for the services we provide," Mr Hepi said.
"In the future we're looking at another venue but for us to move forward we're better off establishing a youth safety hub."
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