what sort of person works for the Samaritans?

[hazelnutfriday]

What do you think if you hear that someone works for the Samaritans? Do you think it is a strange thing to do? Do you think they are likely to be smug, or middle class, or middle aged? I am thinking of applying. I think the work sounds interesting. But I am not sure what sort of people I would be working with, or what it says about me that I am drawn to this.

When I was a Samaritan we weren't supposed to tell anyone we were. And I'm not sure "nice" and "kind" are the first requirements.....

There is no policy of making volunteers listen to any misuse calls (pranks, wanking etc.). We have clear guidelines on what to do in each case

Another thing I was told about in the training is that sometimes callers can get attached to you, even though the Samaritans do not accept requests to be put through to a specific person - so theoretically a caller should speak to someone different every time. However very occasionally callers will come to the building and try to wait for a specific call handler outside. Shift times are varied for this reason.

@Theredfoxfliesatmidnight - this makes no sense. All calls to Sams go to a central switchboard and from there are allocated randomly to one of the 180 call centres in the UK. There is no way that any caller will know where a volunteer is.

Most branches don't do face-to-face visits now either.

That may have been the case years ago, but it's not now. In my training cohort only 8 made it through training, out of 20. And lots of people don't even get as far as being accepted for training!

An important part of volunteering is being able to get on with and support the other volunteers on shift with you.

There is no such policy. You just explain that the call is ending and that they are welcome to call back to talk.

@Pongyangdumpling - 4 hours a week. One shift per month must be 'hours of need' (eg late night).

Not in our branch!

When I called the Samaritans I wouldn't have given a shit whether the person I spoke to was middle, upper or working class. I needed in the moment support, from a kind, non judgemental person and I got that from a man with a very broad Scottish accent. No idea what class he was and if he was otherwise smug he didn't bring it to the call, he was brilliant and helped me on a difficult day.

To the PP who mentioned the Brenda Line - it's a historical anomaly, long since discontinued. And to reiterate, Samaritans volunteers don't have to listen to abusive calls: they are trained to end those calls immediately. Any public-facing servive will get a certain amount of misuse calls - I'm afraid it goes with the territory.
The Samaritans I've met have been an amazingly diverse bunch of people, from every conceivable background, men and women of all ages and everything from unemployed to company directors.
Congratulations to the OP on bring accepted and I hope you enjoy the training and your volunteering experience.

I did it for a few years in my mid twenties while working full time in banking. I was one of the younger volunteers but it was a real mix of people and all lovely.

We did have night shifts and I used to volunteer for Friday or Saturday nights so that it wouldn't interfere with my paid job but a new 'leader' came along with his new broom and changed the shifts so that we had to do a week night despite there being enough non working people available (who didn't want to do weekends) to cover them.
There was no compromising sadly and so I and a few other long serving volunteers resigned.

I still remember my first wank call. I asked him if he was watching a western on the TV in the background 😂🥴. I soon got used to dealing with them. We weren't allowed to put the phone down at our branch in the 80's.

There is no such policy.

What do you think if you hear that someone works for the Samaritans? Do you think it is a strange thing to do? Do you think they are likely to be smug, or middle class, or middle aged?

Bloody hell. The first thing you learn is to leave your judgement at the die. Are you sure you're suited to this??

That's not true. If they give an address, you call for help. If they don't, sadly there is nothing you can do and that's their choice. They can't trace calls

I used to volunteer for the Festival Branch. The best shift is 2-6am. The quietest is 6-10am. We came from all sorts of backgrounds, but I was very aware the leaders (circa 2003-2005) were older, hardened festival attendees. They organised the camping / communal cooking/shifts without partaking much and buggered off into the festival all evening. The training (at a place in Bedford) was around non-judgemental and empathetic active listening skills and how to check out if someone is suicidal. Festival work is hard; you camp with the festival staff and have to help with the communal cooking and washing up. The service users are all drunk or substance-using individuals. Some want to talk and are lonely, some off their faces and in their own world.

I reckon a nice person that's who.
I filled an online form out for volunteering but never heard back. So maybe I'm not who they are looking for 🙂 or they have enough volunteers.
I have a lot of respect for anyone who works this role paid or voluntary.

My cousins father in law was one. He’s a lovely man. Good at listening, thoughtful.

Called no longer go the regional branch so the caller would not know which branch to go to. It could be hundreds of miles away. Only in specific circumstances do callers get offered a call back and it is not necessarily the same person who calls.

My sister volunteers. She's ace. Several people in our family have had a hard time with mental health problems and her ex ended his life, so she wanted to do something.

OP, you still haven't specified -- do you mean paid work or a volunteer role?

Hi, Not answering the original question, but I'm someone who has phoned the Samaritans several times over the past few years. This has been when the world has gone dark and I have nothing to give or anything to live for. I've also gone into their building, and have been seen pretty much immediately.

Every time they have been kind, thoughtful and comforting. I have support, but sometimes I felt that it wasn't fair to burden or bore family and friends; Once, after chatting and crying for some time, when it was time to go the Samaritan I had been talking to said it was a pleasure to talk to me ... we both laughed!

I totally appreciate them.

I used to be a lonely SEND mum (now have other SEND mum friends) and where I lived there was an established group of mums who were pretty unwelcoming to me. I was astonished to find out one of them was a Samaritans volunteer. She wrote an article about everyday loneliness in the local paper which I found somewhat ironic.

I volunteered for a similar helpline when I was studying for a career in psychology - it wasn't the samaritans but the schizophrenia suicide helpline. It was mainly just listening to people and giving them an opportunity to express their feelings. I enjoyed listening and helping people. Anyone who judges someone who does that is a huge arsehole.

I volunteered with Samaritans for a number of years and there was a real mixture of people who volunteered. I was in my early 30's and there were volunteers who were younger than me and also older ones, some of them were retired. I found it very rewarding and only gave up when I had my first child as I just couldn't keep up the commitment, especially the night shifts. I do think I may go back to it when my kids are a lot older/have left home.

The two people I know who have volunteered are strong, capable, funny and fit no stereotype.

I know two people who have been volunteers, and they are easily the two kindest, wisest people I know.

Thank goodness for people like this.