HARTLEPOOL Samaritans have reported a big increase in the number of young men using the service.
In previous years, the split between male and female callers has been roughly 50-50, but latest figures show 63 per cent of calls are from men.
Staff at the organisation say most of the increase in male callers has come from men in their late teens and twenties.
A spokesman for the Samaritans said: "One reason is men generally cannot talk to their friends about their problems. They'll talk about football or women, but not their personal lives. I think some of them are realising that they can talk things through with us and we actively encourage them to do so.
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