Coinciding with their 20th anniversary in Busselton, Lamp Inc will be the recipient of this year’s Mayoral Prayer Breakfast which will also focus on mental health.
The money raised through the breakfast will go towards Lamp’s youth service to assist their outreach program and Unicorn Project.
Lamp Inc youth support worker Paula Farley said they currently helped around 40 youth in the community deal with anger, frustration and not fitting in with other people’s expectations.
“We try and link into where that anger is coming from and what we can do to minimise that internalised feeling,” she said.
“Because our youth program is a bit outside the box they feel they can come to us to breathe, relax and be themselves, which helps them find their own pathway unique to them.”
This year’s keynote speaker will be mental health professional Wilma Edwards who has helped others through drug counselling and family therapy.
The Busselton resident said she would speak about her experiences in mental health and trauma counselling across different countries and the different things which have helped people.
“There were somethings which seemed to be a common theme, no matter what level of society or what country or culture, there were things which were consistent,” she said.
“Things like isolation within a community really do have a great impact on people’s mental health. We will never resolve the human problem of despair completely but there were certainly things we could do as a community to reduce those instances.”
Ms Edwards said isolation was an increasing problem within society, and while people argued electronic media increased communication, it did not increase “real communication.”
City of Busselton mayor Grant Henley said he hoped the breakfast would inspire, strengthen and unite the community, while supporting a worthwhile cause.
Lamp Inc chief executive officer Lorrae Loud said it was wonderful to be the recipient for this year’s mayoral breakfast because it had a real community feel about it.
The breakfast will be held at Abbey Beach Resort on September 8, tickets are $40 and can be purchased by emailing Deborah.Holden@busselton.wa.gov.au.