A big thank-you to Christine and Margaret, who attended our meeting and gave a very interesting talk about the history, operation and future plans for the Samaritans organisation. The questions afterward went on for some time – I think Christine and Margaret were wondering if they were ever going to get away!
Samaritans was started up on 2nd November 1953 by a minister who had been horrified by the suicide of a young girl, who might have been saved had there been someone to hear her concerns. Since that time, Samaritans has grown to include 201 locations and 20,000 trained volunteers. Nowadays, Samaritans are available 24/7 via phone and email to those aged 18+ and offer a totally confidential listening line to those under any kind of stress where sharing their story might help. This can range from the suicidal, the bereaved and addicts to people having relationship problems,work problems and so on. Samaritans don’t offer advice, but instead can suggest different ways of looking at a problem. Sometimes the simple act of sharing a story can release the caller from enough stress to enable he or she to solve a problem themselves.
It’s important to realise that as a national system, Samaritans can never guarantee you’ll reach the same person if you call more than once. Repeating a story can have its own benefits however.
All calls are FREE, even from pay as you go mobiles with zero credit balance. The phone number for all calls is 116123. Emails are also free: send emails to jo@samaritans.org. Visits to a branch are also free – you can expect some security screening before being accepted for a face to face visit.
For more information, visit their website by clicking the logo below
