Mr Gold hoped empowering people to speak about their difficulties in real time would give others a greater understanding.
The Lampard Inquiry has been looking at deaths in Essex, but the photographer said lessons should be learned before people died.
His interviews focused on 15 men and 15 women, aged 13-39, and took place in Colchester, Clacton-on-Sea and Braintree.
“I was moved to tears once or twice from various stories; it’s probably been the toughest project I’ve ever taken on,” said Mr Gold, who has also taken photos in Ukraine.
“It also gave me a huge frustration because I found so many people were being let down.”