Neil's story
James' Place
24/02/26
53 year old Neil from Hebburn came to James’ Place Newcastle last year.
“I came to James’ Place in 2025 after a serious of things happened in my life that caused me to feel suicidal. My dad passed away, he was probably the closest person in my life and at the same time I was having some issues with my son. For the first time in my life I started to question what the point of everything was – I couldn’t see a future. That worried me. My best friend died by suicide years ago leaving behind a young family, so I’d seen the impact that had on them. I knew I needed to get help, so I started googling and found James’ Place.
I was surprised when I contacted James’ Place that they got me in for an appointment really quickly, I was expecting to have to wait a long time. It was a lovely building, everyone was really welcoming and my therapist was brilliant. There was no judgement and it felt safe to open up. The fact it was face to face I found really helpful, I had tried some therapy over the phone before and it just didn’t work. The cards my therapist used helped me to draw things out of myself that I didn’t even know were in there, and helped me realise so much about myself.
The only thing I found difficult was I had to walk up a big hill to get to the centre, which was a challenge, but that almost became part of the process of getting better, as every week I could walk up there faster, with less breaks. As my sessions went on I started to feel more confident, stronger in myself, and I also decided to start going to my local Andy’s Man’s Club. I feel a lot better in myself.”