MIND mental health, Washington, provides a counselling service to people aged between 11 and 25 across the city, after they dealt with over 65,000 telephone calls last year.
Callum Jones, 22, of Broadstairs Court, Sunderland, has been helped by MIND for the last four years.
He said: “It is amazing the service MIND give to people.
“It has helped me massively in the past and to hear that it is working with Pop Recs makes me think it will encourage more young people to go after the help they need.”
Pop Recs has been popular for many years, offering people somewhere to go to enjoy music, explore the shop and have a coffee.
Lead Counsellor, Angela Wilson, from MIND, said: “We talked about settings, we talked about non-stigmatising settings, and one of the preferred choice of counselling venue was a coffee shop.
“We couldn’t think of a nicer coffee shop than Pop Recs.”
The idea to mix the counselling service with Pop Recs began in December.
Ms Wilson added: “It was a work in progress. We always thought this is a little bit experimental; it’s going to change.
“Our hope originally was that people feel they can bypass complicated referral systems, avoid waiting lists, they can just turn up here and see a counsellor.”
The counselling sessions at Pop Recs run every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon between 2:30 and 4:30pm and no appointment is required.