A new free online counselling service for emigrants will be available for Irish people living in Australia from this weekend.

Clients will be able to avail of up to six free appointments over Skype with a qualified Irish counsellor.

Cabhrú (which means help or support in Irish) is operated by Helplink.ie, a national non-profit organisation which has been providing phone and online counselling to clients in Ireland for the past five years.

The Cabhrú service will initially be available to Irish people in Australia, but Helplink.ie plans to expand it to other countries with significant Irish populations, such as Canada, the US and United Arab Emirates in the future.

An “emotional support” helpline for emigrants is also planned for later this year.

Helplink.ie says it has already helped Irish clients living abroad with issues such as bullying, depression, loneliness, lack of familiar support structure, transitional stress and anxiety, self-esteem, and addiction issues.

Online counselling appointments will be available seven days a week between 8am and noon Irish time, to coincide with evening time in Australia.

Cabhrú is funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and supported by the GAA and Crosscare Migrant Project.

For more information on how to apply, see helplink.ie/cabhru