A FORMER football star has teamed up with an Ayr hypnotherapist in a bid to tackle mental health.

Ex-Rangers and Kilmarnock hero Kris Boyd is hosting a Valentine’s Ball aimed at tackling mental health problems and has signed up Kevin Mullin whose NLP therapies help people overcome anxiety.

Kevin who used to spend his time as a soldier in dangerous warzones teamed up with the Kris Boyd charity after both he Kris’ brothers tragically took their own lives following a battle with depression.

Kris, a former Scotland striker is hosting his mental health ball at Ayr Racecourse, which will be hosted by Radio presenter Des Clarke and George Bowie’s GBX.

The charity ball is being held on Saturday, February 8 at Ayr Racecourse with hosts Des Clarke and George Bowie’s GBX.

Kevin, who was once in charge of security at a key Taliban target, will be helping to teach event guests the actions that they can use with Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) and how this can help them deal with all things mental health.

The dad-of-three hopes to empower people who are attending the event that they can ‘change their lives’.

Kevin said: “Because I talk about unconventional subjects like suicide and mental health - the big issues that people are scared to talk about - someone put me in touch with Kris Boyd. Most people will know that Kris’ brother and my brother suffered the same fate.

“We met for coffee and from that moment onwards I’ve been asked to work with the Kris Boyd charity by using my methods to help change mental health and the stigma surrounding it.

“I hope to show those attending the event that they can change their lives – and at a much faster speed by using Anxiety HIT rather than having to spend years in therapy.”