New services hub gives Hope

A community service provider which has been operating for more than a century in WA has opened a regional hub in Karratha to provide more on-the-ground help for mental health issues, substance abuse and youth disengagement.

Hope Community Services, which has been running in the State since 1902, opened a local office in Karratha Village in January after several months of initially providing services to the Pilbara from Perth.

It will be the organisation’s first permanent base in the North West and allow staff to run programs in Karratha, Roebourne, Hedland and Kununurra.

Pilbara and Kimberley comm-unity services project manager Michael Hepburn said the organisation wanted to branch out into northern WA because staff had seen a need for their services.

“Hope has a philosophy of bring services to those most in need in remote and rural areas,” he said.

“The North West has communities, which can benefit from (our) community service.”

Hope will be providing alcohol and other drug counselling, support for mental health and wellbeing, youth street outreach and parent counselling services in the region.

The organisation has a well-established presence in the Goldfields, Mid West and Perth.

Its programs there include a community farm drug rehabilitation service in Geraldton and a Headspace centre in Kalgoorlie, offering early mental health intervention for young people aged 12-25.

Mr Hepburn said the group had wanted to set up an office in the North West because having a local presence “makes services more aware of local issues and more responsive”.