YORK Mind has encouraged residents to talk about their feelings, in the wake of national statistics which show the city has one of the highest rates of male suicide in the country.

The Office of National Statistics looked at suicide rates between 2002 and 2013, and showed the number of suicide incidents recorded in the City of York Council area for men was fourth highest in the country, behind Darlington, County Durham and Calderdale.

The figures looked at suicides in comparison to the number of deaths recorded by local authorities, of men and women aged between 18 and 64.

They show the number of men who committed suicide in 2013 was more than double the number who committed suicide in 2001, 22, compared with nine, the highest it had been in the 11 years between.

The number of women who had committed suicide was notably lower - rising from one in 2002 to two in 2013.

Alyson Scott, chief executive of York Mind, said it was always a worry when the organisation saw suicide rates increase, and since the figures were released earlier this year, they could not pinpoint the reason for the rise.

She said: "We were really surprised. We looked at the previous years there and could see we had a significant gain in that particular year. Occasionally you have a bit of a cluster in certain areas but no-one in York Mind can remember anything with that year that would see such a rise.

"York as a city has quite good employment, with a good standard of living and a pleasant environment to live, it's very much feels like the figures are bucking the trend in this way. The number of people accessing he service has definitely gone up year on year. We were dealing with about 650 people three years ago, and nearer 1,300 this year."

Alyson said the waiting list for York Mind had been closed for about four months, as the demand was so great, people were unable to be seen for up to two years, and while new funding and spaces had been made available, they were quickly used.

The loss of Bootham Hospital could also make matters worse, but Alyson said service users had so far given mixed reports on the closure, with some preferring home visits.

She said: "It used to be very much about seeing people who were beginning recovery having been through services and mental health starting to improve. We would work with them to get back into the community but now seem to be doing more work to try and prevent people going into hospital and making sure they link with us as soon as possible.

"It's really quite a big thing. I think if you take away a hospital building from an area, it's always going to be a real shock for people who have used it whatever their thoughts on the building. There have been mixed messages. The first few days people were generally upset because of the shock. There's still a general feeling of 'what's going to happen'. There's a very mixed feeling from users."

- Anyone experiencing feelings of depression and contemplating suicide can phone York Samaritans on 01904 655888.