A painter and decorator rocked by personal tragedy is paving the way for men to open up during times of need.

Lewis McCallum and friend Jannah Shilling have launched the Facebook group Manchat to provide a safe environment for men to talk about problems.

Following the death of a friend two years ago, Mr McCallum, from Boughton Monchelsea, explored various avenues before settling on a Facebook group.

The 26-year-old now has high hopes for Manchat, which launched earlier this month and has already attracted more than 100 users.

Mr McCallum said: “Manchat has been brewing for the last couple of weeks. My friend took his own life before Christmas. He tried to reach out to me but I didn’t see how deep his depression went.

“It pushed me to want to set something up and have somewhere for people to go confidentially and speak to somebody.

“There were other guys who were feeling the same way. We decided to start something up with the aim of having an app with 24-hour live chat and support around the world.

“Rather than having English people on the phone at 3am it would involve having volunteers in Australia, Canada and America so everyone can talk at any time of the day.”

Mr McCallum met James Catherall, from Cambridgeshire, while travelling in New Zealand two years ago but learned he suffered from drug addiction soon after.

The pair kept in contact over Facebook but Mr McCallum was unable to see how deep Mr Catherall’s depression ran before hearing he had taken his own life.

He said: “I have my own painting and decorating business and I am trying to run that at the same time as organising Manchat.

“The end goal is for people to be able to log on at any time. If someone is feeling bad then we can try and help them and push them towards working with MIND.

“If someone is feeling suicidal then we can get in touch with MIND ourselves.”