A growing funding crisis has forced a women's mental health charity to make redundancies and close services.

Five sessional workers and two members of the administration team at Threshold left this week as £100,000 of National Lottery funding came to a close.

The charity, which is based in St George's Place in North Laine, Brighton, is the only service of its kind for women in the city.

It will run its final weekly activity session at the Phoenix Centre in Phoenix Place on Friday.

Threshold director Kath Williams said: "We feel we have the services down to the bare bones.

"If we don't get more funding we will have to restructure again, which might mean closing more drop-in or counselling sessions.

"There is a risk of closing or we could scale right down and only provide one service but I would hope we will continue in one form or another."

The staffing cutbacks and service closures are the latest results of a continuing cash crisis for the organisation which shut drop-in and counselling sessions in east Brighton in June after money from regeneration project eb4u ran out.

The Threshold day service continues to run daily sessions for users across the city, including community centres in Hangleton and Hollingdean.

Free complementary therapy, child care, support and advice for women with mental health problems and low incomes are offered, along with work to combat self-harming.

GPs, midwives and members of Sure Start, the Government's national programme to support children, are among the agencies referring women to Threshold each week.

The charity also runs a national information line which is paid for by annual funding from Brighton and Hove Primary Care Trust and Brighton and Hove City Council.

One 31-year-old physiotherapist, who first discovered Threshold nine years ago, said: "Threshold is the only place you can go and have a crisis without an appointment and turn up knowing you can talk to someone.

"If you have to wait a week to see someone you could get a lot further down the path to suicide.

"I would not be able to do my job without their support and they show you how to live your life with a mental illness."