Image credit: SPACE North East.
SPACE North East is the charity helping men across Sunderland by challenging the stigma associated with discussing mental health.
In 2022, the North East had the highest suicide rate in 2022 at 12.8 deaths per 100,000 people.
In that same year, men made up about 74% of suicide deaths across England and Wales in 2022.
But 2022 was also the year that James Fildes decided he would do something to help other men who had been to the same dark places that he had been some years before.
Founding SPACE North East, James created a charity that has since gone on to change the lives of men one day, one walk, one conversation at a time.
In this exclusive report, I joined James and the men at SPACE on one of their weekly Saturday walks along Roker Beach to find out about the work that they do, and the difference it makes.
SPACE North East hold weekly walks every Saturday morning from Fausto Coffee, Roker. Image credit: SPACE North East.