The Samaritan’s

[sillypossumsmum]

The Samaritan’s service has been cut too much
Over the past 12 months I’ve tried to call maybe a handful of times overnight when desperate for support and just get ina queue saying they are all busy
I waited two hours a few times before giving up

it must be horrible for their volunteers, I feel for them.

I'm sorry that you weren't able to get through when you needed support. I guess they are a charity with limited resources and can only offer the service that they can afford to offer.

Sadly a number of charities have suffered over the last few years. Labour cut pots of cash that helped to support these organisations.

I hope you get the help you need.

Can you ask for support on here?

Sorry to hear you've had that experience. Samaritans specifically have been affected by their leadership closing branches and expecting people to volunteer from home. They've lost volunteers for that reason - for many, the way they were able to do the role was by volunteering at a local branch and having the support of being around their colleagues re the emotional impact of the work.
I imagine you might have looked up others, there isn't much overnight unfortunately. CALM is one that is open until midnight and aimed at people in crisis, eg if feeling suicidal (appreciate Samaritans is a bit more general)

Their email service is appalling! Literally can take over a week to reply!

I volunteered for Samaritans years ago. Unfortunately, there are a lot of non genuine callers which then means people who do need to speak to someone can’t get through, and it also puts people off volunteering.

If you’re in London, The Listening Place provides face to face support.

I am a Samaritan and I am sorry you did not get through - night times are the busiest times for us and it is difficult to see people
waiting. If you can call in the morning, the queue times are very short and often calls are answered immediately

Samaritans is a predominantly volunteer run organisation- it is not perfect but it is providing a service as best it can given limitations of being a charity and providing a backstop for where our current mental
health services cannot stretch to
cover

It's been decades but last time I used that they kept getting my name wrong! Totally wrong e.g. My name's Sarah and they kept calling me Jenny.

I rang them 4 times the day ds died. No response.

It must be very tough role, that’s my point.

The powers that be in Samaritans HQ have closed the email service, the correspondence service and others as well.

It can be tough and rewarding - it can also be very frustrating with the time wasters who stop callers getting through in an acceptable time.. the service has not been cut, we still have 1000s of volunteers but it is a challenge to get enough people to cover the high demand overnight as most volunteers are working and so it is hard to fit overnights shift into a working week.

@OutOfTheOtherSide "Sadly a number of charities have suffered over the last few years. Labour cut pots of cash that helped to support these organisations."

The foreign aid budget was cut, yes, but I don't see how that would impact the Samaritans which is a UK and Ireland specific charity. Or any other UK specific charities for that matter. No UK government has ever funded charities (other than reduced council tax and VAT in some cases). The foreign aid budget is something entirely different.

Possibly some of their difficulties are due to the cuts to mental health services. Statutory services tend to signpost service users to voluntary or nfp organisations which are then overwhelmed.

Well Labour has only been in power for two years so logically that makes little sense

Nb local councils do fund some charities by commissioning them to provide services on their behalf. I work in mental health and services like Mind or housing associations running supported housing get funding from the LA. Also charitable organisations get funding to run Leisure centres. I imagine many children’s services get similar levels of funding.

Also, I know know several longtime volunteers who eventually ran out of patience with the sex calls, and quit.

Sex calls were a main reason that I left, and don’t for a moment imagine that they were all men. We had to do an overnight each month

I do wonder if they now use some sort of ai? I’ve not used it in ages, mainly because of the delay but also found the reply weirdly impersonal and almost like they hadn’t actually read it, so (sadly) not that surprised they didn’t even get your name right! I mean, that’s pretty appalling, especially considering that when people contact them they genuinely are at a pretty bad way in the first place! I’ve never spoken to anyone on there because I’d find it too difficult to do so - much more than an email - but that puts me off even more. I’m sure that the volunteers that man the phones are trained and empathetic and caring, absolutely not doubting that and I imagine (hope!) that they’re there for the right reasons, but like in all things there’s probably the odd interaction with someone there that may make the caller come away wondering why they’d bother.

There is no AI used by listening Samaritans. It is all delivered by trained volunteers. Yes mistakes are made as we are all human and can mishear names as often lines are not clear and callers are upset

There is some misinformation on this thread, especially about branches being closed and volunteers expected to work at home. Also the labour party withdrawing funding is factually incorrect.

I think the issue is that the demand for services such as Samaritans is far outstripping what a volunteer organisation can deliver and that we need more support for the wide range of issues that people call us about as they are not able to access help from other sources

The demand has meant the changes to some services to focus where need is at its highest - hence dropping the email service as it was not as used as the phone lines

I am so incredibly sorry to hear
that

@sillypossumsmum are you happy to share what county youre in? Here may be other services available to you

My reference to some local branches closing was what happened to my friend who stopped volunteering. He was asked to volunteer from home and refused. The alternative branch was too far for him to travel to.
I'm aware there was a broader policy announcement about it last year and I know there was push back so I don't know if that is going ahead.