A PENARTH man is vowing to help local people deal with their stress and anxiety through clinical hypnotherapy.

Gareth Strangemore-Jones, from the Penarth Practice, has teamed up with Mayberry Pharmacy to offer free stress tests at the pharmacy's base in Royal Buildings on Stanwell Road.

It takes two minutes to measure a variety of psychometric responses and there's an optional 10-minute free stress consultation afterwards depending on the result.

Mr Strangemore-Jones, from the Penarth Practice, is a Penarth resident and has a background in high profile business and charity work.

Having attended St Cyres School, Mr Strangemore-Jones shadowed a journalist at a local newspaper before landing a job writing a monthly magazine for Cardiff City Council.

He then moved on to Penarth Times' sister paper the South Wales Argus where he covered areas such as Blaenau Gwent where his family is from.

After this he made his way to London where he worked in public relations.

Mr Strangemore-Jones suffered post traumatic stress disorder after being involved in an armed robbery in London, following which he decided to leave the city, saying he came home to Wales "to heal".

He returned to London and worked for Callserve which looked to help Microsoft promote the idea of making cheap calls between computers.

Mr Strangemore-Jones became involved in Tsunami Relief which led to a large concert at the Millennium Stadium with the likes of Tom Jones and Manic Street Preachers to raise money for the disaster appeal following the 2004 Pacific tsunami.

Following this, he put his time to an organisation which was raising awareness of environmental issues along with Dr Ervin Laszlo.

The movement became known as Worldshift 2012 and was backed by some of the world's leading figures such as the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu.

On the new clinical hypnotherapy, Andrew Caple, from Mayberry Pharmacy, said: “We are pleased to announce our new partnership with the Penarth Practice, offering clinical hypnotherapy and psychotherapy initially from our branch in Penarth, with a view to roll out the service throughout our stores across South Wales.

"Many people feel the effects of stress and anxiety from time to time. It is important to recognise these feelings in order to be able to deal with them most effectively before they create other mental and physical issues,” he explained.

As well as the free stress tests, the Penarth Practice is offering an introductory discount of 50 per cent off full clinical hypnotherapy sessions booked before September – £30 instead of £60 for a 50-minute session or £60 instead of £120 for the special two-hour clinical hypnotherapy smoking cessation session.

Mr Strangemore-Jones said: "Stress and anxiety are real feelings, which are there for a reason. They are indicators to warn us that we may wish to recognise, address or change the things in our lives that cause us such worry.

"But all too often these days, we find ourselves in situations that we cannot change overnight and these primitive emotions take over."