SIXTEEN years ago, he planned to kill himself after a lifetime of self-destructive behaviour left him feeling he had no options.

Now suicide survivor Daniel Proverbs has launched a digital chat service which he hopes will offer hope to other men struggling with their mental health.

On Saturday, Mr Proverbs will join Still Game’s Gavin Mitchell and former Kassidy singer Barrie-James O’Neil with other men at an event to raise funds for a new ‘live coaching’ service for men in need of psychological help.

Daniel runs support website Brothers In Arms from a shed in his back garden in East Dunbartonshire. He established it two years as a resource for men in Scotland to manage their mental wellbeing, with resources, coping strategies and advice on prevention.

The event, at Glasgow’s Stereo, will launch the new live mental health coaching service, enabling men to access professional guidance and advice via online interaction with professionals, before their health reaches crisis point.

Writer Darren McGarvey, also known as Loki, will also take part in the gig which will feature a mix of performance and discussion from participants, each with personal experiences of mental distress.

The event is being staged by music promoter Nicole Heavey of Grassroots Music after the suicide of a family member.

Daniel hopes the live-chat service will help “men in plain sight” who may be experiencing psychological turbulence short of a crisis event.

He said: “Suicide is still the single biggest killer of men under 45 in the UK. We started the website to create awareness around men and mental health and the fact that the suicide stats were so high.

“It’s not a crisis facility, it’s for guys we call ‘brothers hiding in plain sight’. The guy next to you on the subway, the guy in the office, the guy at the centre of the party. The guy who is otherwise ‘normal’.”

Mr Proverbs trained as a counsellor after the positive experience of accessing support following his own breaking point.

He said: “I was training to be a therapist as part of my own mental health journey. It took me a long time to deal with having post traumatic stress disorder.

“From 17 to 42 I ran away from that before I hit crisis. I actually planned for suicide, which is very much a part of the male narrative.

“It was the thought of my then two year old daughter which stopped me and made me seek help.

“After I hit a brick wall, it was medication and talking therapy which really helped me, so much that I planned to take it on myself.

“But I realised that getting men to open up was a challenge in itself, because it took me to reach crisis. The big push to get men to ‘open up and talk’, which is great. But if that was working then the stats would be changing.

“And with counselling, you can only effectively reach one man at a time. Combine that with the fact that in Scotland we didn’t have anything specifically representing mental health support for our gender, it was more one-size fits all. So me and a couple of other guys decided to set up the website.”

Mr Proverbs hopes the implementation of the live coaching service on the Brothers Feel Stress-Free app, which is hosted by mental well-being website Thrive Therapeutic, will enable men who may be reluctant to confide in a relative, friend or GP, to discreetly contact a trained professional.

It’s hoped the chat service - which users can access from 8am-8pm Monday to Friday - will help connect men in rural areas with support.

He said: “It’s based on the idea that a mental health coach will advise and help them a to explore new avenues within the app, and also to access support mechanisms outwith it to help them with their mental health.

“This isn’t an access point for crises but team are able to signpost crises if someone presents that way, even though that’s not the primary function. It’s about enabling men to self manage their mental health so they don’t reach that point.”

Both Still Game star Gavin Mitchell and Poverty Safari author McGarvey have spoken openly in the past about facing mental health challenges.

Event organiser Nicole Heaney, who runs promotions company Grassroots Music was moved to stage the gig following the recent suicide of a close male family member.

Ms Heaney said: “The people left behind are distraught - the parents, siblings, relatives and friends.

“There’s so much talk about mental health issues, and especially in the music industry guys are expected to maintain a certain character, or stance and act a certain way.

“I thought this was a way to get people in the industry who have suffered this themselves to communicate about their experiences.”

Mr Proverbs pointed to the fact that while his charity was established to help men, the majority of the support it receives comes from women.

He said: “The majority of our fundraising and a lot of our social media interaction is from females.”

Ms Heaney said: “There’s so much focus on women at the moment that men almost get pushed to the side. I feel that there should be as much interest in the issues men face, because not every man is a chauvinist.”