The Walkabout Barber aims to slash hair at the same time as cutting through the stigma attacked to mental health problems. The service traveled to Glen Innes for the first time yesterday, April 10 after operating earlier this week in Ashford and Tenterfield; it previously visited Inverell, Tingha and Armidale in January.

James Sheather from Armajun health service said the service had been very popular on Wednesday, with 18 kids and adults through the mobile trailer's doors before midday. It's a tall order for a hairdresser.

"The boys mainly just power through. They will have a little break for lunch, but they'll stay there most of the day," he said.

"And they've been doing this for the last three days, just cutting (in New England).

"They can get up to fifty haircuts a day each."

Mr Dowd, the Newcastle-based founder of the service, is a trauma specialist with postgraduate degree in trauma and recovery but says he rarely needs to bring it up when cutting hair.

"For men (the service) gives men a space to sit and talk to another male other than a psychologist or a psychiatrist," he said.

He said they deal with a lot of depression and anxiety in Indigenous communities, among other mental trauma problems (Mr Sheather puts an oversupply of grief down the size of traditional Aboriginal extended families).

"Western medicine has a lot of great attributes to it, but then we've got a spiritual medication too which is about diving deep down into the spiritual makeup of who you are. In Aboriginal culture the spirit is the healer of all things, and it heals the heart, but it also heals the mind," said Brian Dowd.

He's planning to return in late May to do a two-day session teaching locals in how to use the 'trauma and recovery toolbox' he's developed, with sessions in Tenterfield, Armidale and Tingha. Both community members and staff from Armajun.

He's worked with 89 communities and taught some 18,000 people how to use the toolbox in his time as a trauma specialist.

Brian came up with the idea for a healing haircut from his son. His boy is on the autism spectrum, and Brian discovered that due to sensory issues, hair cuts could be difficult, and even traumatic for both his son and family.

He opened his first barbershop in Newcastle in an attempt to desensitise the boy's fear of haircuts, and in doing so opened a space for others dealing with similar concerns.