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Samaritans (charity)
Encyclopedia
Samaritans is a registered charity aimed at providing emotional support to anyone in emotional distress
or at risk of suicide
throughout the United Kingdom
and Ireland
, often through their telephone helpline
. The name comes from the Biblical
parable of the Good Samaritan
, though the organisation is not religious. Its international network exists under the name Befrienders Worldwide
, which is part of the Volunteer Emotional Support Helplines
(VESH) with Lifeline
International and the International Federation of Telephone Emergency Services (IFOTES).
Samaritans was founded in 1953 by Chad Varah
, a vicar
in the London Diocese. 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 girl of fourteen who had killed herself because she feared she had contracted an STI
. 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 there are now 201 branches across the UK
and Ireland
, deliberately organised without regard to national boundaries on the basis that a service which is not political or religious should not recognise sectarian or political divisions. Samaritans offers support through approximately 17,000 trained volunteers 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 newspaper on 7 December 1953 about Varah's work.
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
, himself a Samaritans volunteer.
Samaritans' vision is that fewer people die by suicide.
, operating 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. 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
support. Initially operating from one branch, the service is now provided by the majority of branches and co-ordinated from the organisation's head office. It receives tens of thousands of messages each year, including many from outside the UK, and aims to answer each one within 24 hours.
In 2007 Samaritans received 5,319,462 contacts, by phone, email, text, letter, minicom, face-to-face at a branch, through their work in prisons, and at local and national festivals and other events.
Samaritans stresses that the service it provides is not counselling
, and it will not give advice. Although Samaritans volunteers are trained in many of the same techniques as professional counsellors, they neither judge nor tell people what to do. By listening and asking questions, the Samaritans volunteer help people explore their feelings and work out their own way forward.
Samaritans do not denounce suicide, and it is not necessary to be suicidal to contact Samaritans. In 2007, 80% of the people contacting 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.
Samaritans' international reach is through Befrienders Worldwide
, 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 the USA, India
, Hong Kong
, Serbia
and Zimbabwe
, among others.
The Volunteer Emotional Support Helplines
(VESH) combines Samaritans (through Befrienders Worldwide) with the other 2 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
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
- 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 and Wales.
Another example is Aware
- a national voluntary organisation, based in Ireland, which provides supports to individuals who experience depression and their families and friends. Aware
provides a Helpline service, as well as nationwide Support Groups and monthly lectures, which seek to educate and increase awareness of depression.
Stress (medicine)
Stress is a term in psychology and biology, borrowed from physics and engineering and first used in the biological context in the 1930s, which has in more recent decades become commonly used in popular parlance...
or at risk of suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
throughout the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
, often through their telephone helpline
Crisis hotline
A crisis hotline is a phone number people can call to get immediate emergency telephone counseling, usually by trained volunteers. Such hotlines have existed in most major cities of the United States at least since the mid-1970s. Initially set up to help those contemplating suicide, many have...
. The name comes from the Biblical
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
parable of the Good Samaritan
Parable of the Good Samaritan
The parable of the Good Samaritan is a parable told by Jesus and is mentioned in only one of the Canonical gospels. According to the Gospel of Luke a traveller is beaten, robbed, and left half dead along the road. First a priest and then a Levite come by, but both avoid the man. Finally, a...
, though the organisation is not religious. Its international network exists under the name Befrienders Worldwide
Befrienders Worldwide
Befrienders Worldwide is a charity that helps people worldwide who are tempted to suicide or despair. They listen without judging people or telling them what to do. If there is someone to listen, this can sometimes keep a person alive who might otherwise die...
, which is part of the Volunteer Emotional Support Helplines
Volunteer Emotional Support Helplines
Volunteer Emotional Support Helplines is a planned combined international network of telephone counseling services being formed by the 3 largest international services...
(VESH) with Lifeline
Lifeline (Counselling service)
Lifeline is a free, 24 hour telephone counselling service in Australia. Volunteer counsellors provide suicide prevention, crisis support and mental health services via telephone. This service can be accessed by calling 13 11 14 within Australia....
International and the International Federation of Telephone Emergency Services (IFOTES).
History
Chad Varah
Reverend Prebendary Edward Chad Varah, CH, CBE was a British Anglican priest. He is best remembered as the founder of The Samaritans, established in 1953 as the world's first crisis hotline organisation, offering non-religious telephone support to those contemplating suicide.-Life:Varah was born...
, a vicar
Vicar
In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...
in the London Diocese. His inspiration came from an experience he had had some years earlier as a young curate in the Diocese of Lincoln
Diocese of Lincoln
The Diocese of Lincoln forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England. The present diocese covers the ceremonial county of Lincolnshire.- History :...
. He had taken a funeral for a girl of fourteen who had killed herself because she feared she had contracted an STI
Sexually transmitted disease
Sexually transmitted disease , also known as a sexually transmitted infection or venereal disease , is an illness that has a significant probability of transmission between humans by means of human sexual behavior, including vaginal intercourse, oral sex, and anal sex...
. 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 there are now 201 branches across the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, deliberately organised without regard to national boundaries on the basis that a service which is not political or religious should not recognise sectarian or political divisions. Samaritans offers support through approximately 17,000 trained volunteers 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 newspaper on 7 December 1953 about Varah's work.
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
Phil Selway
Philip James "Phil" "The Graf" Selway is an English musician and songwriter, best known as the drummer of English rock group Radiohead. He also drums and provides backing vocals, along with occasional guitar and lead vocals, for 7 Worlds Collide...
, drummer with the band Radiohead
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992...
, himself a Samaritans volunteer.
Chad Varah breaks with Samaritans
In 2004 also the Rev. Chad Varah announced that he had become disillusioned with the 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".Samaritans' vision is that fewer people die by suicide.
Samaritans' work
The core of Samaritans' work is a telephone helplineCrisis hotline
A crisis hotline is a phone number people can call to get immediate emergency telephone counseling, usually by trained volunteers. Such hotlines have existed in most major cities of the United States at least since the mid-1970s. Initially set up to help those contemplating suicide, many have...
, operating 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. 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
Email
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
support. Initially operating from one branch, the service is now provided by the majority of branches and co-ordinated from the organisation's head office. It receives tens of thousands of messages each year, including many from outside the UK, and aims to answer each one within 24 hours.
In 2007 Samaritans received 5,319,462 contacts, by phone, email, text, letter, minicom, face-to-face at a branch, through their work in prisons, and at local and national festivals and other events.
Samaritans stresses that the service it provides is not counselling
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is a general term referring to any form of therapeutic interaction or treatment contracted between a trained professional and a client or patient; family, couple or group...
, and it will not give advice. Although Samaritans volunteers are trained in many of the same techniques as professional counsellors, they neither judge nor tell people what to do. By listening and asking questions, the Samaritans volunteer help people explore their feelings and work out their own way forward.
Samaritans do not denounce suicide, and it is not necessary to be suicidal to contact Samaritans. In 2007, 80% of the people contacting 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.
Confidentiality
Samaritans maintains 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 for him or herself, or when the caller is threatening volunteers or deliberately preventing the service being delivered to other callers.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
Befrienders Worldwide is a charity that helps people worldwide who are tempted to suicide or despair. They listen without judging people or telling them what to do. If there is someone to listen, this can sometimes keep a person alive who might otherwise die...
, 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 the USA, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
and Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
, among others.
The Volunteer Emotional Support Helplines
Volunteer Emotional Support Helplines
Volunteer Emotional Support Helplines is a planned combined international network of telephone counseling services being formed by the 3 largest international services...
(VESH) combines Samaritans (through Befrienders Worldwide) with the other 2 largest international services (IFOTES & Lifeline
Lifeline (Counselling service)
Lifeline is a free, 24 hour telephone counselling service in Australia. Volunteer counsellors provide suicide prevention, crisis support and mental health services via telephone. This service can be accessed by calling 13 11 14 within Australia....
), 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
- Dublin SamaritansDublin SamaritansDublin Samaritans refers to the Dublin, Ireland, branch of the Irish and UK registered charity Samaritans. The Dublin branch is based at 112 Marlborough Street where it has occupied the same premises for the past 20+ years.- Statistics :...
- The Samaritans Hong KongThe Samaritans Hong KongThe Samaritans Hong Kong operates a free "24-hour multilingual suicide prevention hotline in Hong Kong. [It] is a non-religious charity that provides confidential emotional support to all people, irrespective of race, creed, age or status, who are despairing or suicidal." The organization is...
(Multilingual Service) - The Samaritan Befrienders Hong KongThe Samaritan Befrienders Hong KongThe Samaritan Befrienders Hong Kong is a non-government organization. It is a local voluntary agency which provides counseling services to people with suicidal tendencies or behavior...
- Samaritans of SingaporeSamaritans of SingaporeSamaritans of Singapore, also known as SOS, established on 1 December 1969, is a non-profit and non-religious organisation, with the mission of providing 24-hour confidential, emotional support to people in crisis, thinking of suicide or affected by suicide.SOS is a member of the National Council...
- 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 LifelineLifeline (Counselling service)Lifeline is a free, 24 hour telephone counselling service in Australia. Volunteer counsellors provide suicide prevention, crisis support and mental health services via telephone. This service can be accessed by calling 13 11 14 within Australia....
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
One example is Nightline
Nightline (student service)
Nightline is the name given to various confidential and anonymous overnight listening, emotional support, information, and supplies services, run by students for students at universities around the world...
- 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 and Wales.
Another example is Aware
Aware (voluntary organisation)
Aware is a voluntary organisation based in Ireland which aims to assist people affected by depression.-Helpline:The Aware Helpline is a non directive listening service for people who experience depression and concerned family and friends. The Helpline offers a non judgemental listening ear to...
- a national voluntary organisation, based in Ireland, which provides supports to individuals who experience depression and their families and friends. Aware
Aware (voluntary organisation)
Aware is a voluntary organisation based in Ireland which aims to assist people affected by depression.-Helpline:The Aware Helpline is a non directive listening service for people who experience depression and concerned family and friends. The Helpline offers a non judgemental listening ear to...
provides a Helpline service, as well as nationwide Support Groups and monthly lectures, which seek to educate and increase awareness of depression.
External links
- Samaritans (USA) home page
- Welcome to Befrienders Worldwide
- Samaritans 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.