Sunderland

Corry Evans and Sunderland fan James Fildes discuss Space North East, which tackles mental health problems with help from the club...

“We know where we are as a team and where we aspire to be. The aim was to help others because when that was me there was a six-month waiting list. You could see what it meant to the fans.” “I was very nearly not here but now I can try to help people get their lives back on track, give them a bit of hope,” says Fildes. “You can see it on match days that football here is such a release for supporters. He speaks candidly about a 10-year battle against depression and a journey that took him to the brink of suicide. It can be hard to get it out of people sometimes but the aim is to talk about it. I just wasn’t looking after myself, I didn’t have a job and felt like I didn’t have anywhere to go. [Manchester United](https://theathletic.com/football/team/manchester-united/), [Hull City](https://theathletic.com/football/team/hull-city/) and [Blackburn Rovers](https://theathletic.com/football/team/blackburn-rovers/). I wasn’t sure if I was going to play football again but my wife was unbelievable for me through the whole process. The lifelong [Sunderland](https://theathletic.com/football/team/sunderland/) supporter was living out an ordinary afternoon at his home in suburban Silksworth when the captain of his boyhood club turned up unannounced. The 32-year-old has known his own dark days, like the fractured skull and shattered eye socket he suffered in 2020 that threatened to end his career, but has called upon supports to prop him up.