Detective Sergeant Mark Meredith receives Australia Day OAM for service to the community

However a personal tragedy in 2016 is what led him to promote valuable conversations within the community.

Detective Sergeant Mark Meredith has received an Order of Australia Medal this Australia Day for his service to the community.

"It's pretty humbling," he said upon receiving the award.

"You read about other people that are quite special and have done some wonderful things, so for it to come my way is amazing, really amazing."

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With a police career spanning almost 35 years in the Orana region, the Detective Sergeant explained serving the community was something he always felt compelled to do.

"I know it's a cliché, but I thought I had something to add and something to give and I could help people, and I think at the end of the day it simply breaks down to that, you just want to help people," he said.

Mr Meredith was born and bred in Dubbo and after graduating from the police academy in March 1988, immediately returned to the town to begin his career. He said this was one of the best decisions he made.

"I get asked a lot over the years 'gee it must have been hard Mark policing in your own town'," he said.

"Well it's quite the contrary, it made my job so much easier, because I knew everyone, and if someone turns up in uniform they often say 'I want to talk to Mark Meredith'.

"It's easier, there's no breaking down those barriers and its just that you're known and they're quite happy or content to talk to you and vice versus.

"A lot of the problems I've encountered over the years, and to solve those problems was easier because I knew the background of a lot of people and how they would like to be approached, or how they would like to be spoken to, and how they would like to be treated."

However despite his profession, he said it didn't prepare him for his own tragedy, after his son Perry Meredith died in 2016.

It's what led to the Detective Sergeant's advocacy for Livin' - a suicide prevention and mental health awareness organisation.

The OAM recipient and his brother, who is also an ambassador for the organisation, first hosted an annual Tradies Breakfast at Ingenia Gardens in 2017 in honour of Perry, who was a builder by trade.

"We started off with a morning tea so that we could get young tradies, young footballers, young people together and just talk about the issues that they may be experiencing, whether that's financial, personal, in relationships, and just reach out and talk," he said.

Detective Sergeant Meredith echo's Livin's motto 'It ain't weak to speak' and hopes it encourages more people to open up about their personal battles and break the stigma about mental health.

"In the early days in a lot of organisations, not just the police force, you wouldn't speak about these things," he said.

"You put it in a box and cover it up, or you'd go to the pub and have a beer and that was the medicine to fix things, and it just doesn't fix things.

"So that's the legacy that Perry has left me and that's what I want to try and share with everyone."

That message and organisation has spread further into the football community, particularly the Macquarie Raiders rugby league club, where Mr Meredith and his family have been heavily involved for many years.

The Detective Sergeant's message to people in the community is to be open to helping out others.

"There's always someone else worse off than you," he said.

"You may not think it at the time, and what you think is a really big issue and is really overwhelming, it may not be in comparison to what someone else may be going thorough."

However the humble medal recipient says he wouldn't have the accolade without his family, particularly his wife and rock Elizabeth, sons Perry and Jarryd, daughter Kendall, and soon-to-be six grandchildren.

"Dubbo has been, I can't explain with words how good Dubbo has been to me," he said.