Mental health front of mind at Southern Ports-supported Pop-Up Cafe

The Esperance community is being invited to have important conversations about during mental health week at Escare Incorporated’s Pop-Up Café.

The free community event brings together local service providers and encourages community members to create lasting connections.

Now in its ninth year, the pop-up café is being supported by the Southern Ports Community Investment Program for the second year running.

Supported through the Southern Ports Community Investment Program, the pop-up café is its ninth year and has been supported by CIP for the second year running.

Southern Ports Interim Regional Manager – Esperance Greg Solly said the Community Investment Program was designed to support strong regions. 

“Strong mental health is an important thing to keep front of mind for each and every one of us,” Greg said.

“Escare has been providing important services in our community for over 40 years and its Pop-Up Café event is a great way to promote positive conversation about mental health.

“Our own health and wellbeing program places an emphasis on positive mental health, and it is great to see initiatives like this promote similar conversations in the wider community.” 

The Pop-Up Café will be set up at the Esperance Museum entrance from 10am to 1pm on Friday 3 October.

Escare Family and Community Worker Megs Sims said maintaining positive mental health required having the right tools to navigate life’s challenges.

“If people are struggling and need extra support it is important to acknowledge that there is no shame,” Megs said.

“The challenge is to continually promote conversations to reduce negative stigma so that community members feel safe to acknowledge when they need to reach out.

“The Pop-Up Café showcases services based in the Esperance community so that people know where they can go and promotes the importance of conversations to break down social isolation.”

Applications for the next round of the Southern Ports Community Investment Program are now open until 24 October.

“I find the CIP application process very user-friendly and have already encouraged other services in the region to apply for support,” Megs said.

Applications are open to support community initiatives through the Goldfields-Esperance region.

More than $45,000 was shared between 17 recipients in the region in the most recent funding round.

Across Southern Ports’ three regions 42 recipients shared more than $100,000 of funding from the round.

More than $1.5 million has been invested into the Great Southern, South West and Goldfields-Esperance regions through the program over the last five years.

Visit the Southern Ports website for more information and to apply.