The know the signs and encourage the talk forum held last Wednesday night was organised by the Rotary Club of Blayney and the Blayney Health Council in response to a community survey which showed parents did not know the signs or triggers of mental health or how to start a conversation around topics such as drug and alcohol abuse.

Guest speakers on the night represented Lifeline and headspace, while there were also information booths set-up to provide helpful advice.

Lifeline central west CEO Alex Ferguson spoke around the constant rate of change and how that impacts with the relationship between parent and child.

"If you look at life as it is now, just about everything has changed," he said.

"If you're using this whole rate of change, we're actually getting bogged down, we're getting caught and it's a real problem."

Mr Ferguson also highlighted how important the role of parenting is with youngsters.

"It's easy to put down kids," he said.

"Kids are in many ways a mirror of society and a mirror of their parenting.

"So if a child is having a rough time of it, do not discount the fact that the parenting model they're living in has failed or is failing and instead of having, in many cases, this mythopoeic view of 'I'll be focused on changing the structure of the child', we also need to have an awareness growing in the community that parenting comes with responsibility."