Samaritans- anyone volunteer?

[Boxshibe]

I have to do volunteering for work could be anything so I thought maybe samaritans. I've used there services in the past and would like to give back. Just had a call and can start my training at the weekend. Has anyone done this? How was it?

I did this but I can't say a lot about it as it was all very confidential.

We were taught about the type of problems people might call with, what they might reveal and how to deal with this.
We did role plays and had discussions about how to help callers without suffering burnout and compromising our own mental health.
We learned what to do when a caller seemed in danger of physical harm by their own actions and how to defuse this situation.

It was a very comprehensive course and I'm sure you will enjoy it.

Whether or not you will want to join the organisation after your training is another matter as it requires a lot of commitment and team work.

They did say there are admin roles as well. I ll go to the training and see how I get on.

Was there a minimum time commitment, @Oceans12?

I used to- did it for five years. On a good shift it was really rewarding and I felt I was doing something useful; bad shifts of sex calls and prank callers were another matter altogether and in the end there were too many of those so I jacked it in.

@MrsBennetsPoorNerves Was there a minimum time commitment, @Oceans12?

Yes there was.
I don't want say what it was, as different towns have different requirements depending on the size of the centre and how many volunteers they have, and I don't want it to be 'outing'.
However this will be made clear to potential volunteers during the training.

Similar experience. As an organisation they did not do enough to protect volunteers (especially women) from sex callers who were often such repeat offenders I literally knew them by their voices. This in spite of reporting them every time.

I also had some wonderful calls across the years where I felt able to make a real difference to people at a very tough moment in their lives. That always felt like a great privilege 💙

There’s a great deal of training, it takes a long time to get your number, you’ll have to deal with lots of perverts wanking and you have to do unsociable shifts, but it’s great.

they’ll tell you in training that when you pick up that phone, you have no idea who or what is on the end, and you don’t realize how true that is until you get into the ops room. You literally can be dealing with anything, it certainly teaches you to think on your feet.

go for it, it can be incredibly rewarding, it can be incredibly upsetting and frustrating as well but you’ll get a lot of support and we do make a real difference for people, even if it’s only in the moment. we can’t actually help, we only listen, but being heard is valuable and that’s why we do it. There’s a real sense of camaraderie amongst the volunteers and you’ll meet some great people.

I remember reading a thread about the sex pest calls some time ago. It was absolutely shocking how prevalent they are. Men quite literally putting their 'right' to have a wank above that of people in desperate need of help.

I did it for many years. The training is a real commitment but very good indeed and they give you time and space to understand the calls you will get. It can be quite draining. As other have said you do get sex calls and these can be horrible but there is support available for any call you get. Sometimes it is hugely rewarding and sometimes very upsetting but you can make a huge difference. You do need to understand that they do not step in to stop suicide, you may speak to someone who is taking pills or on a bridge but this is rare. You are simply a listener while asking the right type of questions. I still use the skills i learnt today and made many friends who were also volunteers.

Yes, sadly there are a lot of men who misuse the service for their own sexual gratification. It’s not just the ones having a wank, they’re quite easy andquick to get rid of because they are so blatant, it’s the sick fantasy calls, the ones who know the service well enough to keep the volunteer on the phone that really do my head in. Sadly as a Samaritan you’re not allowed to tell people to fuck off, and you have to give people the benefit of the doubt, so you can be pretty sure this dude is spinning you a yarn, but it’s not as straight forward as just ending the call. They’ll also spin you the line in training that women do it too, but I’ve never had a woman SDC.

Apparently they are clamping down on misuse of service and there are fewer sex calls than there were, but it’s true you can have some shifts where you just get one after the other. I do get shifts where there aren’t any though, occasionally.

I find the chatters harder to deal with, because while they are actually misusing the service, most of them are just lonely and I feel sorry for them.

I did it. Agree training is comprehensive. In the end the time commitment was too much for me particularly the overnights.

There were a lot of "regulars" as well.

You do start to get a nose for the sex calls and how to politely make it clear through tone of voice that this call isn't your first rodeo. At that point they generally hang up, the arseholes.

I did it too, many years ago. Did others hear about the ‘Brenda line’, i had callers mentioning how they ‘missed the service’ 🤮. Basically the founder Chad Varah believed that if we let men wank and chat about it down the phone then they could relieve themselves and wouldn’t be out raping women. Definitely the sex calls were the worst part for me, and some of the repeat callers who made up elaborate stories. Otherwise it was a very moving and important thing to be part of. i felt the support was not always adequate, i was young and if i was upset by a call there was the implication a few times that i was too soft for the role. I think it’s normal and appropriate to find the content upsetting sometimes (as long as you are not putting the burden of that on callers). Good luck with it op, i think you’ll find it rewarding.

I did it for about a year. I stopped because of the sex calls. They were nonstop and I found them really traumatising. The worst were ones who used to pretend to be children being abused. It got to the point where I had to leave. I was not supported at all and when I left I was made to feel guilty for not being able to "handle" the sex calls. I had to disclose rape/SA before the supervisor accepted my reason for leaving.

I would consider doing it again in the future but I would put a lot of support in place for myself first.

The sex calls didn't bother me so much to be honest because I mostly found them obvious enough that I could end the call pretty quickly. The ones that I struggled with were the ones where I could tell I was being completely useless and the caller was getting frustrated, but there was just nothing I could do or say to help - whether it was because they needed some particular service that we couldn't provide or signpost to, or just that I had no idea what to say.

Completely agree with others about the support being inadequate. My branch also had a real culture of old-timers who'd been volunteering for decades looking down on new starters, especially younger ones, and assuming they were just in it for a CV booster and wouldn't stick around, which I think became a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy. I also had some very rewarding calls though and was ultimately glad I did it. The training is robust and will give you a good idea of whether it's a good fit for you.

I've volunteered for a few years....and I'd say give it a go.
The training is interesting anyway, but the reality of calls is different, most aren't too serious thankfully, whereas training focuses on worst case types.
As others said, the sex calls are really annoying, but the calls where a person says they feel better at the end of a call compared to the start, makes me feel like I've spend my time productively.

I would recommend volunteering for Samaritans - amazing organisation, very worthwhile. The sex calls / misuse of service can be upsetting and annoying as others have said.
I still do some outreach work but I left the branch where I volunteered on the phone. My work and home situation changed and I couldn't fulfil the time commitment anymore.
I would say ( with love and respect) that the samaritans is like any other organisation. Branches have their own cultures ( mainly fab and supportive)but of course variations are possible. Sad to hear that some volunteers were made to feel they should toughen up. Disappointing.
Will hopefully be able to volunteer in the future when time is more plentiful 🙏

The initial training for listening volunteers is a major commitment, including weekly group sessions and online "homework" in between.
There is then regular refresher training every year.
You need to have an enhanced DBS check.
You need to be comfortable discussing suicide with every caller.
The commitment is serious and intense, and you need to be prepared to listening to absolutely anything - without judgement.

It sounds to me like you have been invited to an information session or open day, not training. Take the opportunity to ask lots of questions, as each local branch is different.

It is a rewarding volunteer role, but not for the faint-hearted, and the drop out rate is high as new volunteers realise what is involved.

I’m genuinely disgusted by this. I’ve used the Samaritans in the past and the wait on hold can be huge. People can give up waiting or simply not have the opportunity to wait. To find out desperate people might not get the support they are looking for because of some guy doing this utterly disgusts me. Could these men be more selfish?

I was a volunteer many years ago. I started at a local branch but fairly quickly moved into Festival Branch which was more my thing, working face to face.
I was always the one in the branch who liked to answer the door when the bell rang.

find the chatters harder to deal with, because while they are actually misusing the service, most of them are just lonely and I feel sorry for them
Loneliness has terrible effects on health and is a bigger killer than smoking. It’s a form of psychological torture. I would hope the Samaritans would chat to lonely people or at least signpost them to another service.

That always felt like a great privilege 💙

After a call I made to the Samaritans at a very low point in my life, the particularly wonderful woman volunteer I had been speaking with told me it had been a great privilege to speak with me. I can’t tell you how much it meant that she said that.

I’m in the middle of my training at the moment. I’m questioning whether or not I should continue. I’m worried about the time commitment and whether or not I’m going to be any good at it. I’m finding the practice calls particularly excruciating.

The ‘sex’ calls have been mentioned many times.

I'm glad she said that to you and that you felt that way about it 💙 It takes such courage to be so brave and open with others, especially when times are really tough.

Interesting post thank you

the commitment to training and hours, can this be outside 9 to 5?

I’m happy to commit any time out of hours for training etc but struggle during the working day