Centacare was established in 1988 by Bishop Patrick Dougherty with Sr Mary Comer as the founding Director as “Child, Adolescent, and Family Counselling Service', initially as a ‘pilot project'.

The organisation was built on two guiding principles:

Everyone and every community have resources and strengths which can be mobilised so that they can thrive
Everyone is part of something more than their individual selves - a family, a community, a school, a workplace- and each individual has to be understood in their relevant context
When Centacare opened its doors at 255 Rankin Street in Bathurst, Bishop Dougherty said: “How wonderful it would be were the Catholic Church ever to see its way to extending psychological counselling and welfare services to all the needy families and children for the whole diocese.”

From its humble beginning back in 1988, Centacare has become the official social services arm of the diocese serving the families and communities in the Central West and Orana regions of New South Wales. Responsive to the needs of the families and communities in the region, Centacare continues to expand its range of services way beyond Bishop Dougherty's vision at its infancy of extending ‘psychological counselling.'

The region that we serve is 100,000 square kilometres in area covering towns such as Lithgow, Bathurst, Mudgee, Oberon, Cowra, Orange, Wellington, Dubbo, Coonabarabran, Gilgandra, Coonamble, Coolah, Dunedoo, Baradine, Gulgong, Canowindra, Molong, Eugowra, Yeoval, and Manildra.