The second phase of Anglicare WA’s Friend in Need outreach program is making its way to the regions

Anglicare WA’s Friend in Need outreach program will educate Waroona, Yarloop and Harvey on the best way to stay on top of their mental health, relationships and financial issues. The $32,000 six-month initiative is set to begin next month and is the second phase of a bigger health and wellbeing project. It will see a number of information sessions that focus on educating people around solutions to self-management and mental health issues. This second phase also incorporates Anglicare advisers providing counselling and other autonomous services to community members, which was the main focus of the project initially with relevance to the COVID-19 recovery period. Anglicare WA chief executive Mark Glasson said phase two would help future-proof these communities and the project would increase the ability of local leaders to support their community members in changing circumstances. “The Anglicare WA board has funded the design and delivery of our Friend in Need initiative as a response to the continuing impact of COVID-19,” he said. Harvey Community Resource Centre manager Tracey-Anne Davis said the project had been huge in the past six months and she was now looking at creating a volunteer position that would offer a similar kind of assistance influenced by the first phase of the program. The Friend in Need project expands on the partnership between Anglicare WA and Alcoa which initially saw the Alcoa Foundation invest $180,000 in order to deliver COVID-19 support across Harvey, Waroona and the upper Peel region. Alcoa Australia president Michael Gollschewski said the company was proud to continue to work with Anglicare.