Samaritans (charity)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Samaritans is a registered
charity Charity may refer to: Common meanings * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sha ...
aimed at providing emotional support to anyone in emotional distress, struggling to cope or at risk of
suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...
throughout the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
and
Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
, often through its telephone helpline. Its name derives from the
biblical The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) biblical languages ...
parable of the Good Samaritan, although the organisation itself is not religious. Its international network exists under the name
Befrienders Worldwide Befrienders Worldwide is a charity that helps people who are considering suicide or experiencing general emotional distress. They have 349 emotional support centres in 32 countries, reaching an estimated 7 million people each year. Volunteers listen ...
, which is part of the Volunteer Emotional Support Helplines (VESH) with Lifeline International and the International Federation of Telephone Emergency Services (IFOTES).


History

Samaritans was founded in 1953 by the Rev. Chad Varah, a Church of England
vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...
in the Diocese of London. His inspiration came from an experience he had had some years earlier as a young curate in the Diocese of Lincoln. He had taken a funeral for a fourteen-year old girl who had died by suicide because she believed she had contracted an STI, when in reality she was menstruating. Varah placed an advertisement in a newspaper encouraging people to volunteer at his church, listening to people contemplating suicide. The movement grew rapidly: within ten years there were 40 branches and now there are 201 branches across
Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...
and
Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
, deliberately organised without regard to national boundaries on the basis that a service which is not political or religious should not recognise political or sectarian divisions. Samaritans offers support through over 21,200 trained volunteers (2015) and is entirely dependent on voluntary support. The name was not originally chosen by Chad Varah: it was part of a headline to an article in the ''
Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily Tabloid journalism, tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1903, it is part of Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), which is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the tit ...
'' newspaper on 7 December 1953 about Varah's work. In 1972,
BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and Flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includ ...
ran an 11-episode television series called '' The Befrienders'', featuring fictional stories about people in desperate situations who reach out to the Samaritans. Although it was cancelled after one season, the series helped to raise public awareness about their work, leading to a significant increase in inbound calls, as well as a surge in the number of volunteers in the UK. In 2004, Samaritans announced that volunteer numbers had reached a thirty-year low, and launched a campaign to recruit more young people (specifically targeted at ages 18–24) to become volunteers. The campaign was fronted by Phil Selway, drummer with the band
Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon-on-Thames, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band members are Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Gre ...
, himself a Samaritans volunteer. In 2004, Chad Varah announced that he had become disillusioned with Samaritans. He said, "It's no longer what I founded. I founded an organisation to offer help to suicidal or equally desperate people. The last elected chairman re-branded the organisation. It was no longer to be an emergency service, it was to be emotional support". One in five calls to Samaritans is from someone with suicidal feelings. Samaritans' vision is that fewer people will die by suicide. In 2005, a rapprochement was reached when Varah met with the new chief executive, and then chairman, of The Samaritans and enjoyed hearing about the continued essential and enlightened work Varah had begun in 1953. In 2006, Varah's eldest son, Michael Varah, was appointed to sit on the newly created board of trustees.


Services

The core of Samaritans' work is a telephone helpline, operating 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Samaritans was the first 24-hour telephone helpline to be set up in the UK. In addition, the organisation offers a drop-in service for face-to-face discussion, undertakes outreach at festivals and other outdoor events, trains prisoners as "Listeners" to provide support within prisons, and undertakes research into suicide and emotional health issues. Since 1994, Samaritans has also offered confidential
email Electronic mail (usually shortened to email; alternatively hyphenated e-mail) is a method of transmitting and receiving Digital media, digital messages using electronics, electronic devices over a computer network. It was conceived in the ...
support. Initially operating from one branch, the service is now provided by 198 branches and co-ordinated from the organisation's head office. In 2011, Samaritans received over 206,000 emails, including many from outside the UK, and aims to answer each one within 24 hours. Samaritans is currently piloting
webchat service
to allow correspondents to communicate with listening volunteers by instant message. In 2009, Ofcom introduced the first harmonised European numbers for harmonised services of social value, allocating 116 123 to Samaritans. This number is free to call from mobiles and landlines. From 22 September 2015, Samaritans has promoted 116123 as its main number, replacing the chargeable 0845 number previously advertised. In 2014, Samaritans received 5,100,000 calls for help by phone, email, text, letter, minicom, Typetalk, face-to-face at a branch, through its work in prisons, and at local and national festivals and other events. Samaritans volunteers are given rigorous training to be non-judgmental and empathetic. By listening and asking open questions, Samaritans volunteers try to help people explore their feelings and work out their own way forward. Samaritans does not denounce suicide, and it is not necessary to be suicidal to contact Samaritans. In 2014, nearly 80% of the people calling Samaritans did not express suicidal feelings. Samaritans believes that offering people the opportunity to be listened to in confidence, and accepted without prejudice, can alleviate despair and make emotional health a mainstream issue. In 2022, Samaritans campaigned to have "suicide websites" shut down; stating that it believed that the UK government's proposed online safety bill "isn't fit for purpose". Smaller "pro-suicide" websites which can push people to commit suicide are the charity's biggest concern in this area.


Media guidelines

In 2013, following extensive consultation with journalists and editors throughout the industry, Samaritans produced a set of guidelines outlining best practice when reporting suicide. Since its publication, the organisation has received many awards in recognition of its work influencing the way in which suicide is reported.


Confidentiality

Samaritans have a strict code of caller confidentiality, even after the death of a caller. Unless the caller gives consent to pass on information, confidentiality will be broken only in rare circumstances, such as when Samaritans receives bomb or terrorism warnings, to call an ambulance because a caller appears to be incapable of making rational decisions, when the caller is threatening volunteers or deliberately preventing the service being delivered to other callers, or when there is a safeguarding concern. In November 2011, the Board of Trustees agreed a motion breaking with confidentiality in Ireland, "To provide confidential support to children but report to the Health Service Executive any contacts (from either adults or children) where it appears a child is experiencing specific situations such as those that can cause them serious harm from themselves or others." In 2011,
Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...
collaborated with Samaritans to offer help to people in distress. This led to 'cold case' calling, which some believed was an infringement on people's privacy. An Irish journalist wrote of her experience of receiving such a communication.


International reach

Through its email service, Samaritans' work has extended well beyond the UK and Ireland, as messages are received from all around the world. Samaritans' international reach is through
Befrienders Worldwide Befrienders Worldwide is a charity that helps people who are considering suicide or experiencing general emotional distress. They have 349 emotional support centres in 32 countries, reaching an estimated 7 million people each year. Volunteers listen ...
, an organisation of over 400 centres in 38 countries offering similar activities. Samaritans took on and renamed the Befrienders International network in 2003, a year after it collapsed. Some members of Befrienders Worldwide also use the name Samaritans; this includes centres in
Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
, India,
Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...
, the United States and
Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...
. The Volunteer Emotional Support Helplines (VESH) combines Samaritans (through Befrienders Worldwide) with the other two largest international services (IFOTES & Lifeline), and plans a combined international network of helplines. In their roles as emotional support service networks, they have all agreed to develop a more effective and robust international interface. See also: * The Samaritans Hong Kong (Multilingual Service) * The Samaritan Befrienders Hong Kong * Samaritans of Singapore * Samaritans USA—this was formed in 2005 when Samaritans of Boston (established 1974) joined forces with their Framingham branch. Samaritans is also a certified member of Contact USA (a Lifeline International member). There are Samaritans offices in other regions of Massachusetts and the U.S. operating independently with a common mission and philosophy.


Similar charities

A number of other helplines exist that offer a similar service to Samaritans. These are often aimed at a specific sector/group of people. One example is
Nightline ''Nightline'' (or ''ABC News Nightline'') is ABC News (United States), ABC News' Late night television in the United States, late-night television news program broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC in the United States with a franchis ...
, a student-run listening and information services, based at universities across the country, offer a night time support service for students. Each service is run specifically for students at a particular university/geographical area, and most Nightlines are members of the Nightline Association, a registered charity in England, Wales and Scotland. Shout is a free mental health helpline in the United Kingdom, providing the UK's first 24/7 text message support service for people who are struggling to cope. In the UK, the ChildLine service operated by the
NSPCC The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) is a British child protection charity founded as the Liverpool Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (LSPCC) by Thomas Agnew on 19 April 1883. The NSPCC lobbies t ...
(National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children) is similar to the Samaritans helpline in some ways, but offers support for children only. A similar service, also called Childline, is operated in Ireland by the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (ISPCC). Another example is Aware, a national voluntary organisation, based in Ireland, which provides supports to individuals who experience depression with their families and friends. It provides a Helpline service, as well as nationwide Support Groups and monthly lectures, which seek to educate and increase awareness of depression.


See also

*
Mental health in the United Kingdom Mental health in the United Kingdom involves state, private and community sector intervention in mental health issues. One of the first countries to build Psychiatric hospital, asylums, the United Kingdom was also one of the first countries to t ...
* Andy's Man Club - Men's talking group


References


External links

* (UK/Ireland-based) *
Samaritans (USA) home pageWelcome to Befrienders WorldwideSamaritans of Singapore
is a non-profit and non-religious organisation which aims to provide 24-hour confidential emotional support to people in crisis, thinking of suicide or affected by suicide. {{DEFAULTSORT:Samaritans (Charity) Charities based in the Republic of Ireland Epsom and Ewell Health charities in the United Kingdom Health in Surrey Mental health organisations in the United Kingdom Organisations based in Surrey Organizations established in 1953 Suicide prevention 1953 establishments in the United Kingdom Crisis hotlines