A NEW walking group has been set up in a effort to prevent suicide.

After losing 10 friends to suicide within the last 8 years, oil rig worker Kailem Donovan, 32, started the 'Walk and Talk' group which brings together people in Middlesbrough who are struggling with mental health conditions or suicidal thoughts.

Describing mental health conditions as a "epidemic around the country", Kailem decided to take action recently after 2 of his friends took their own lives in the past three weeks.

"It felt as though one was following the other," he said. " I knew that I had to take action and do something to prevent this from happening.

"I have always been a support network for my friends, people feel like they can come to me with their problems and for advice because I'm a chatty guy," said Kailem. "I often take one-on-one walks with people who are in dark places because I have seen first hand how releasing endorphins through exercise can help to calm the mind, and so that was how I came up with the idea of a walking group."

Kailem said that the group is open to everyone, and there is no pressure to talk about heavy issues, such as mental health.

"It is just nice to have companionship and to gaze out over the Eston Hills," he said.

All 10 of Kailems friends who took their own life were men, a fact which he said should not be ignored. He believes the figures are so high because of the ways in which men are told to handle their emotions."

"We are programmed to stifle them, because so often if you approach your guy friends for emotional help you would be told to 'man up.' That's a dangerous phrase because it dismisses our feelings and makes us feel ashamed.

"I think that we need to stop the obsession with appearing manly and feeding our egos. Egos are not important when it comes to matters of life and death."

Kailem said he also believes that the interest in his walks stems from people seeking out support due to the lack of easy-access services accessed by the NHS due to the long waiting lists for counselling.

To attend Walk and Talk, meet in Eston Square, at Eston Body Talk Gym near Dee Dee’s cafe, on Sunday, February 2 between 11am-11.30am.