A client of a mental health support centre set to close in regional WA due to a funding cut says the service will be sorely missed.
After more than 40 years, Fellowship House, a mental health support centre in Albany, will close its doors permanently on March 31.
Richmond Wellbeing which runs Fellowship House said the closure is because of a lack of funding, which they rely on from the Mental Health Commission.
Linda has been attending the program for about 20 years.
The ABC has chosen to use a pseudonym to protect the identity of the member.
She said it was a place of compassion, comfort and love.
"We truly need this place, it's too big of a change for all of us," she said.
Linda said the closure was a sad outcome for the community and she was unsure what she will do without the support.
"It would be terrible for us to not have this place," she said.
"I'll cry and I'll be very lonely."
Fellowship House is the only service in Albany that offers mental health support to adults without a clinical diagnosis.
The group started in 1981 with local Albany woman Hope Sharp, who had a child living with schizophrenia and saw the need for social networking and support.
Richmond Wellbeing CEO Adrian Munro said the community group needed about three hundred thousand dollars a year to keep operating.
Mr Munro said the funding would also provide the organisation with the ability to expand its services to other towns in the region.
He said easy accessibility to social support is key to people's mental health recovery.
"In many instances people have said I feel like that diagnosis is a label,
That's why it's [accessing mental health support] such a barrier for people," he said.
Mr Munro said there is a huge amount of need for the service in the area and across the state.
Albany MP Rebecca Stephens declined to comment and directed questions to Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson.
In a statement, Mental Health Commission Acting Deputy Commissioner Operations Ann Marie Cunniffe said the Commission would work with Richmond Wellbeing to transition consumers to alternative supports or services, if required.
