TWO friends have started their own podcast with the aim of helping people with day-to-day struggles and their mental health.

Dave Manfredi, aged 27, and Tom Mather, aged 34, came up with the idea while coaching young people at Latchford Giants rugby club.

The pair, from Great Sankey and Bruche respectively, discuss their own struggles and encourage people to see the positives.

They also organise walks every Wednesday morning at 6am where people can chat about their life and the issues they are facing.

“We started at the back end of last year, and it is around mental health and our day-to-day struggles. We are just two normal people with nine-to-five jobs, and we both have two kids,” Dave said.

“We coach together at Latchford Giants and started talking. The people we coach, being an under 18s rugby team, face struggles themselves.

“We have different communities and groups of mates who we go to rugby with, go to the pub with, and people who have struggled.

“We just thought, why don't we talk about our struggles and try and make it relevant to other people as well, because some people don't like speaking up.

“The podcast came as an accumulation of conversations that we had. We thought, why don't we just start a podcast where we talk about our struggles.

“Podcasts are really good, and there are many different types of podcasts out there. We wanted to start one and see how it goes, and it has been really, really good.

“We have had some really good feedback and been able to help people and give advice. We know we're not experts, but we are willing to help people and go above and beyond for people.

The hope for the podcast is to get as many people listening as they can, and try to get people to open up to friends and family about their mental health if they are struggling.

“Even if you know you have had a bad day, just recognise it and that tomorrow is a new day,” Dave continues.

“It is about the mental health side of it, but it is also about the day-to-day struggles, like it being Monday morning.

“How many people like to wake up on Monday morning and go to work? That in itself is a struggle, but you recognise that it is a positive and normal thing that we need to do, and we don't have a problem.

“We never self-praise ourselves, and if more people start doing that, that's where we begin to see mental health issues reducing.

For those who want to listen, search for Walk and Talk Pod on Instagram, Facebook, Spotify or Amazon Music.