An American man who spent several years living in Richmond has shared his experience of coming out aged 65 in a video to help others struggling to do the same.

Craig Rypma, an NHS psychologist originally from Des Moines in Iowa, USA, moved to Richmond in 2017 and considers the borough home.

He came out after decades of hiding his sexuality, and says it was "explosively relieving".

He hopes to be able to help others by sharing his story, particularly older generations.

He said: "I came out at the age of 65 and I frequently had others say to me, 'Gee, that was really brave, that must have really been difficult'.

"I suspect they're feelings shared by many others in my age category.

"The process actually was one that occurred over a period of years, involving transforming predispositions likely present at birth, and many accumulating life experiences.

"While at the outset it left a tidal wave of what initially appeared to be destructive to many lifelong relationships, those waves soon settled and true friends remained intact, opportunities for new relationships and new adventures rose."

Craig's sense of humour comes across in the video alongside his desire to make a difference.

He says: "To my closeted friends, those who are now struggling with their skin succumbing to gravity and more frequent trips to the loo, there's still time to make a choice.

"That is: either continue your journey toward death, or continue a journey of growth.

"There's always time for change. There's always time for growth."

Craig says that he doesn't think he had even heard the word gay before going to university.

He found coming out and moving abroad to Richmond very freeing. He said: "I could finally be really who I was without the shame and the anxiety of maybe someday being 'discovered'."

Craig now lives in Putney with his husband Paolo Castiglione. Paolo is from Rome in Italy and met Craig while living in the US in 2015. They moved to the UK after the Brexit referendum.

The video was shot around Richmond and edited by Paolo.

Paolo said: "We've always said that he (Craig) should have shared his coming-out experience with his peers, and that it would have helped many who are still in the situation that he lived in for decades.

"The opportunity came up recently when I had to create a video project for a class I was taking. I said 'Should we give it a go?' and he said 'Yeah, let's do it'.

"He wanted to send a positive message to all his closeted peers and create awareness about what coming out means for senior citizens.

"In the last few years a lot has been said about coming out. Thank god! But I think that the focus is still only on the youngest generations.

"On TV, in the movies, and in the news you rarely hear about the struggles of having lived a whole life in a time that didn't accept you, and then finally coming out at the age of 60, 65 or even older than that.

"Besides, for those people, it's not only a matter of coming out. Many of those people have wives, husbands, children.

"Craig and I don't have a big megaphone to speak from, like an Instagram page with thousands of followers or a YouTube channel.

"But we still think that his message might help others in the local community."