Albany local Alyce Burton to swim every day of March for Laps for Life for youth mental health awareness

Albany resident Alyce Burton is making March a month of meaning, grabbing her swimmers, putting on her goggles and heading down to Emu Point everyday to support youth mental health — a cause close to her heart. The month-long challenge is part of Laps for Life, aiming to spark conversations, raise funds and show young people across the Great Southern that they’re not alone. Ms Burton said this was her third year participating in Laps for Life which was an initiative she was proud to be a part of. “Laps for Life is a really good initiative,” she said. “It’s a fundraising portal for ReachOut Australia which helps provide support for youth, specifically to deal with mental health issues like anxiety, bullying, PTSD, stress and all that kind of stuff.” After losing a family member to suicide in 2023, Ms Burton said supporting youth mental health was something she felt strongly about and held close to her heart. “It’s really important for me because I lost a step-son, the kids lost their brother and my partner lost his son,” she said. “Unfortunately suicide is the number one leading cause of death for youth I think from between the ages of 14 and 24 which is pretty devastating.” Participants in Laps for Life sign up to swim a set number of kilometres across the month. Ms Burton said she covered 30km last year and was hoping to kick it up a notch in terms of both kilometres and donations. “You sign up for a certain amount of kilometres that you have to swim for the month and hopefully get as many donations as possible,” she said. “Last year I swam 30km for the month and my aim is 40km this year so we will see how we go.” During last year’s swim, Ms Burton said she raised more than $3000 and is hoping to significantly beat that goal. “This year I’m hoping to raise over $5000,” she said. “Last year all I did was put it through Facebook and it was just friends and family that donated, whereas this year I really wanted to up the ante and get it out there a bit more.” She said anyone who donates to her page will go into a raffle for a gift basket stocked with items from local businesses, which will be drawn at the end of March. Ms Burton said she was thankful to everyone who contributed including Hillzeez, Handasydes, La Botanica, Renew Salon, Butlers Cleaning Solution, Barrel Farm, Naked Bean, Salt Pilates and Fitness, Elite Supplements, WA Bush Honey, Crave Albany and Terry White Chemist on Chester Pass Road. She hopes that getting her story out there will help other parents have conversations with their kids and create more awareness of mental health. “I think having those difficult conversations is such an important thing for parents to do, to talk to their kids and really encourage them to reach out to a parent or family member, reach out to a coach or teammate or sport teach,” she said. “There’s so many resources available — there’s information, there’s links, there’s crisis lines. “I think the more support we can give to our youth, the better.”