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A suicidal man coping with the deaths of his parents and three brothers has told how an online gamer pulled him back from the brink by simply asking if he was ok.

Faris Khalifa is telling his story ahead of Time To Talk Day - a national awareness event aimed at starting conversations about mental health.

Run by the Sunday Mirror-backed Time to Change campaign, this year’s Time to Talk Day wants to challenge the idea that it’s never the right time or place to talk about mental health.

Faris, 29, said playing the video game For Honor online with a stranger was the last place he expected to find a listening ear.

But two weeks ago while grappling with suicidal thoughts, it was the kindness of that stranger that helped him through the night.

Faris, who suffers from depression, anxiety and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), said: “We had played together a few times, but he’d never been particularly talkative.

“That night I think he noticed that I was a little off and he asked me if I was ok.

“I was honest with him and then he opened up to me too about his own mental health problems.

“I can’t tell you how much of a difference it made to me to have somebody there who was listening to me and just accepting me for who I was.

“Now I know that if I get into a hole, there is always an understanding pair of ears there for me."

Faris, who lives in Liverpool, came to the UK as an asylum seeker aged 15 – a year after his mum, dad and three brothers were all killed in the Second Sudanese Civil War.

He struggled with the move and became increasingly withdrawn, couldn’t eat and suffered from night terrors.

At school, other pupils would pick on him when he got upset and didn’t accept him.

Six years ago Faris tried to take his own life and today he is still troubled by crippling anxiety and suicidal thoughts.

He said: “If you are concerned about somebody, the best thing you can do is ask them how they are really doing.

“Put yourself in their shoes. Be clear that you want to listen and are not going to force the issue.

“And whatever you do, don’t belittle them or put them down for opening up to you, even as a joke.”

To mark Time to Talk Day on Thursday, Time to Change is releasing results of a new poll that show most people find it easiest to open up to friends and family about mental health while walking in the outdoors.

Sue Baker, director of Time to Change, said: “Don’t wait for the perfect opportunity to have a conversation about mental health. There is no wrong time or place. Start your conversation this Time to Talk Day, wherever you are.

“Too many people with mental health problems are made to feel isolated and ashamed. Time to Talk Day is a chance for all of us to be more open about mental health – to talk, to listen, to change lives.”