An independent barbershop is the only place in one Merseyside town to offer men mental health support for free.
Realtalk barbers on Kensington Road in Southport closes one day a week to offer a number of men free counselling from a trained counsellor, as well as both barbers, Rory and Ryan, both being trained to spot signs of poor mental health. People can refer themselves for the sessions, with Moira Reilly holding a day of sessions every Monday.
The 65-year-old counsellor told the ECHO about how she tries to see five people each week while also juggling her job as a therapist. She said: "We opened the service in September 2020 and we are run from the barbers.
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"We do this because it's our mission is to break down the money barriers that comes with men talking about their mental health. The biggest killer for men under 50 is suicide and men are less likely to seek help. I've found they're put off by the cost."
The service offered by Moira and Realtalk is funded through a number of organisations such as Sefton CVS and the local CCG, with donors paying for the rent of the shop and Moira's time. She also explained that they found the men they spoke to were more inclined to speak in a casual setting such as a barbershop than a clinical setting.
She said: "We spoke to men we knew who came into the barbers and we asked them where they would rather go to to the barbers or speak to NHS services. We found that people would rather speak to their barber or someone similar in a more casual environment.
"Rory and a number of other barbers are now trained to spot the signs of people struggling with their mental health as well as offering these services to people."
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