Police youth practitioner, Albury councillor and former mayor Kevin Mack has replaced Di Thomas as the new head of the Border service’s consortium.

Cr Mack is already the member of four community boards and said it was important to join the dots to coordinate services in the region.

“There's been a hit and miss approach to mental health from adolescents up to adults for a long time and the federal and state governments have missed the bus in a lot of respects,” he said.

Public transport is something Cr Mack wants to advocate for on the Border to address the lower number of Albury youth, compared to Victorians, utilising headspace.

“It’s pointless creating a satellite service in Albury because this is the space and this where the practitioners are and we have to make this work,” he said.

“Providing regular bus services between the two cities is not just a mental health issue, but an employment and education issue.

“Young people at La Trobe University can't go home to Albury, young people at Charles Sturt University can't go home to Wodonga and the TAFEs are in the same situation.”

Cr Mack said he wanted to see more collaboration between the country’s headspaces too.

The Albury-Wodonga headspace has also had a shake up recently within its youth reference group.

Five new faces – Antonia Stefanou, Ram Khanal, Brooke Wegner, Madelaine Northey and Danielle Piazza – were picked from a field of applicants for the group.

Mr Khanal, a member of Albury’s Bhutanese community, said he wanted to be on the youth group as he felt it was important to create an awareness of mental health and well-being.

“In my community mental health is seen as a stigma,” he said. “People, they are reluctant to seek help … if they have a representative who is advocating for them to seek help I think that will give them confidence.”