MENTAL health services for people in Blackburn with Darwen are set to improve when a new centre opens in Darwen this Friday.

The Darwen Resource Centre, which is being opened by Janet Anderson MP, brings together the work of three community-based mental health teams in a new purpose-built building.

The centre, on Edward Street in Darwen, is a joint project between Blackburn with Darwen social services and Lancashire Care Trust.

As well as providing offices for mental health workers, the centre has an internet caf open to the public, a resource library offering information on many aspects of mental health and meeting rooms that will be available for all sorts of groups to use.

Councillor Maureen Bateson, executive member for social services, said: "By creating an open and welcoming centre where people can come and find out more, the hope is that there will be less of a stigma attached to mental illness. If we can achieve that, fewer people will feel that they need to suffer in silence."

Finlay Robertson, chief executive of Lancashire Care Trust said: "The opening of this centre marks a new era in mental health."