To be upset at the closure of Samaritans branches?

[PicklesandPrickles]

Seven closures have been announced so far. Many more to come.

I just cant see how this will improve the services. Some of these branches have been going for 50+ years, have 100 or more volunteers and are doing an amazing job fundraising to keep the doors open, running charity shops etc.

This is one article, relating to one of the mergers:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq99z8vkz0x8o

This is the list:

First-Phase Branch Closures

• Caithness (Scotland)
• Orkney (Scotland)
• Shetland (Scotland)
• Stornoway (Scotland)
• Grimsby (Northern England)
• Scunthorpe (Northern England)
• Worthing (Southern England)

Mergers and Regional Hubs

• Inverness and Elgin are merging to form a new Highlands branch.
• Halifax, Huddersfield, and Bradford are combining to create a West Yorkshire hub

I don't know what else to say. Heartbroken and angry.

I would just assume people would be working remotely to keep the cost down

I would not want to be on my own at home after taking a distressing call.

A friend of mine volunteers for them. Working from home is a problem, firstly for privacy around the calls if anyone else is at home. Secondly, they deal with some very very distressing and difficult situations so being able to talk to another volunteer is really important for their own mental health. If they have to travel further than they used to go into a base, that will cut into the time they have free to volunteer. My friend thinks this is going to be pretty catastrophic for the charity’s future.

An old friend has been volunteering for the Samaritans for 10 years now and the planned closure of their local branch has made him resign. He says they’re not thinking of the welfare of the volunteers; he looks forward to their company and support when he’s had a long and distressing call. He doesn’t want to sit at home on his own; he likes having a purpose to leave the house.
He said lots of the volunteers won’t be staying on and that’s a lot of experienced listeners that are being cast aside, not listened to and not valued.

They’ve stopped their email service too, such a shame as I found that a real support.

My friend thinks this is going to be pretty catastrophic for the charity’s future.

I think so too.

I can't imagine that volunteers will get the same sense of community and peer support outside of a branch. I know people who have volunteered for 40 years. Lose volunteers and you also lose trainers, mentors, fundraisers, leaders..... Local branches are run entirely by volunteers. They don't cost a lot.

Volunteering is demanding. It's a lot of training and a big commitment. Its also a huge part of many people's lives.

I am also a listener. I don't want to take calls at home. Many volunteers won't be able to, for reasons of privacy.

Another thing that troubles me is that local branches have been funded by local people, often through fundraising and legacies. It feels unethical to just close up and sell the bricks and mortar, leaving nothing behind.

They have also stopped the email service. I found it very helpful to get my thoughts in order. If I speak to someone on the phone I get flustered.
Its a brilliant service and irs a shame they are closing down branches.
They have saved my life more than once

Wow, why

I have used that before and I found it helpful to me

Why would they stop that

That's really sad

They have introduced chat, but its not quite the same as email.

I'm sorry people are missing the email service. I'm not sure anything comparable is offered by any other charity.

(I can't help thinking that the email service would actually suit home-based volunteers... )

It went deep down the trans rabbit hole, endorsing and publicing now debunked trans suicide rate claims which were used to silence sex realist voices for years. Ousted volunteers who were gender critical. Samaritans does such amazing work but allowed themselves to be hijacked on that issue which may have alienated donors. Donations are down this year but overall have been quite good in recent years. The vast majority of their funding is donations.

I am a Samaritan and volunteer both from home and in a brick building

Our branch has been through the first phase and, thankfully, we aren’t as yet impacted. I do think a number will leave if it does close although I can understand some of the rationale for what is happening.

I also totally get the reasons why volunteers prefer going into the branch. Because of where I live a shift involves me being out of the house for seven hours. As I am getting older and with ongoing physical health issues I decided to apply for one of the roles where you can work from home

It is different but you are very well supported. There are three of you on the shift (a leader and two volunteers) and you debrief with a video call. It’s actually quite nice as you interact with volunteers from all around the UK

But I am aware it’s not for everyone

Can I assume the paid management team are still on the same salaries or did they take pay cuts first? Or did they elect to close branches and sell the buildings rather than losing their pay? I agree op selling branches fundraised by local people is not a good look for the charity. And property prices have dipped so it’s not a great time to sell to realise the best price. But as long as the ceo gets paid it’s worth it.

So many money (and other) scandals in charities - I think people are less enthusiastic about donating.

I was talking to a friend at the weekend who removed a charity legacy from
his will due to how he perceives charity now.

Hmm. @Granville82 I’m not convinced you are on to anything there.

Samaritans are non-judgmental and should not be bringing any personal views or beliefs into their volunteering (excepting the right to self-determination).

If you are talking about trans volunteers, then I would 💯 expect Samaritans to be trans inclusive. Why wouldn’t they be? It’s a suicide prevention charity.

Your GC views have no place there (or here, in my opinion - the post is about branch closures that affect 100’s of volunteers, and is clearly a sensitive subject for those affected).

I think this is awful. Many years ago while suicidal I went into a branch in person and it really helped.

If that hadn’t been an option I would probably be dead now.

I don’t know if they even take walk-ins any more.

It’s the last straw for a friend who has been volunteering for them for 20odd years. She lives alone and doesn’t want to volunteer from there too and have no one to debrief with in real life.

Thank you. That's very interesting.

I have no objection to an online volunteering option being developed, but alongside existing services to make volunteering more accessible and to support more callers in times of need.

As a new volunteer, being physically around more experienced volunteers was part of the experience for me. Now, many of the volunteers are my friends and a huge part of my support network.

Many people volunteer to build their local social networks - so being exclusively online would make volunteering for Samaritans unattractive to many people, at a time when charities are desperate for volunteers.

A friend of mine volunteers and was not impressed by the 'consultation' process which she implied was a stitch up with the conclusion built into the consultation.

None of the volunteers I have spoken to want to work from home. None. I don’t either.

i don’t want to take difficult or distressing calls from home, then have nobody to offload to afterwards.

I agree. It was a foregone conclusion. Leadership want to save money and had already planned how to do it

Our branch doesn’t. It takes too many people - one to be with the caller and one to watch on the security screen in case the caller gets violent.

I agree about email. It was used by people who right want to or couldn’t use the phone safely, e.g. children. I think it was a huge mistake to get rid of it.

Absolutely agree with all that. Especially the social aspect. I live alone (I do have a partner and good friends) so Samaritans certainly helps with interaction with people

If I lived closer to my branch I wouldn’t have given much thought to home working

But I decided to start because I can see a time in the future (be it my health or branch closure) where it will be my only option

And it’s different which is good. I enjoy it

Email was stopped because it was very difficult to give meaningful support in the way Samaritans seek to do in non live writing, and frankly because of the standards (because of how much harder it was to produce quality responses).

I no longer volunteer but appreciate costs savings and reform are necessary and frankly having been a member of a number of branches several are very toxic and stuck in their ways and would have resisted anything central office wanted to do.

I left Samaritans after 8 years because the leadership is awful. They are treating it like a business - hoards of people in Head office being paid, not listening to local branches about their demographics, expecting more and more from the volunteers whilst removing various aspects.

Added to that was the attitude of the DEI department - Julie Bentley is on the board.

Lastly, the current CEO has never been a volunteer (a change of direction by the charity) and it shows…

My experience means I will not go near a national charity with a barge pole and opt for local ones.