THE P
RTAL
Here am I Lord
The Portal talks to A Samaritan John from the Midlands
The Samaritans grew out of the experience of the Revd Chad Varah in the years following the Second World War . An Anglican priest living in South London , he set up the charity to assist the depressed and suicidal . From those early days Samaritans has grown a great deal . They now have 201 branches in the UK , the Republic of Ireland , the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man .
August 2012 Page 10
According to their web-site www . samaritans . org , their purpose is :
“ to enable persons who are experiencing feelings of distress or despair , including those who may be at risk of suicide , to receive confidential emotional support at any time of the day or night from appropriately trained Samaritans in order to improve their emotional health and to reduce the incidence of suicide ; and to promote a better understanding in society of suicide , suicidal behaviour and the value of expressing feelings which may otherwise lead to suicide or impaired emotional health ”.
Samaritan for the fifteen years
John ( 62 and single ) is a member of the Ordinariate living in the midlands . He has been a Samaritan for the past fifteen years . He tells us his story in his own words .
“ Although I am a native of London , I have lived in the Midlands for seventeen years now . The Samaritans saved the life of a dear friend of mine and I saw the work they do and was attracted top it , but did not have the time to offer myself .
Information Day , then selection
Later , when I moved to the Midlands I offered myself as a Samaritan . First of all , I went on an Information Day , then selection . This was a series of informal interviews as well as activities . The training lasted ten to twelve weeks and was one evening a week . I think now after six weeks you go on shift and training continues there . You get to listen-in to the callers and the volunteers .
You have a personal Mentor for as long you want them . We try to make the most of everyone , but we do turn people down sometimes . More often it is the volunteer who decides it is not for them . The drop out rate can be as high as 50 %.
the suicide question
We never give advice . The worse thing is having to ask the suicide question . To ask it you really need to be led into it by the caller . For our female volunteers the biggest thing they have to deal with are the sex calls . We do get a lot of calls that are a waste of time , in which case you tell the caller what you are about to do , then you put down the telephone .
not give up on the caller ,
It may happen that the call becomes personal to you , then you call in a colleague or terminate the call . Having said that , you should , not give up on the caller , but you might call in your Leader , or even the Director . If the caller is underage , the Director is always called .
Everything is confidential
We do not refer people to other agencies . We do not record any calls . Everything is confidential to the Samaritans , not to the volunteer . Quite often the caller does not start to talk about what is troubling them . They will talk about anything but the thing that troubles them . It may come right at the end of the call , or as an aside .