It was a clergyman who began the first branch of the Samaritans in Wales more than 40 years ago and since then many of the charity’s volunteers have come from churches and chapels. It is support the charity hopes to build on now as it develops its first all-Wales Strategy, writes Simon Hatch, Samaritans’ first Director for Wales.
For nearly 60 years Samaritans have been providing confidential, non-judgemental, emotional support, 24 hours a day, seven days a week for people who are experiencing feelings of distress or despair, including those which could lead to suicide.
Over the years our services have developed and expanded to include e-mail, text and even support to people on Facebook.
Samaritans first branch in Wales opened in a Cardiff back room in Bute Street in 1965. There are now nine branches across Wales – in Aberystwyth, Bangor, Bridgend, Cardiff, Brecon & Radnor, Haverfordwest, Newport, Rhyl and Swansea, with more than 500 tireless volunteers who take about 150,000 calls, emails and texts each year.
In November 2010 we launched our own Welsh Strategy to strengthen awareness of Samaritans mission in Wales and outline our clear plans for the years ahead. The strategy highlights the facts about emotional distress and suicide in Wales and how our services can help.
Sadly, suicide remains one of the highest causes of death among people in Wales with around 300 dying each year, almost double the number killed in road accidents. There is strong evidence to show the links between recession, unemployment and suicide, and amid ongoing cuts to services our work is more relevant now than ever.
While concern over job losses persists, we know that many people don’t seek support to help them cope with their worries. Men aged between 20 and 50 are at greatest risk of suicide, particularly those who are unemployed or who work in low or semi skilled roles.
As a result we are focusing our support in areas of social and economic deprivation and isolation, including rural areas where we are improving our services to people whose first language is Welsh. We are also working with the Welsh media to influence their reporting of suicide and self harm, and have published media guidelines.
We continue to reach out to young people by running our ‘Feet on the Street’ campaign in Bridgend, where volunteers go out into the community to provide face-to-face emotional support for people. Volunteers also visit local schools to provide support and encourage young people to share how they are feeling rather than bottle problems up.
In 2011 we are also celebrating 20 years of Samaritans’ prison listening scheme, which was launched in Swansea to train prisoners to offer confidential emotional support to their fellow inmates. There are now Samaritans listeners in every prison in Wales able to offer support.
It is vital we continue to expand and explore new ways of responding to people at risk of suicide. This year we set up a partnership with Facebook and also a scheme with Google, which provides Samaritans’ contact details for anyone searching for suicide related content.
Shaped by our experiences of callers and volunteers from across Wales, this strategy gives Samaritans a solid platform to respond and offer our expertise to those who contact us. But to succeed it will require more support from volunteers willing to give their time to help others. It is our highly trained volunteers who are at the centre of all our work, enabling us to provide a service which would otherwise cost millions but which helps so many people every day.
You can find out more about Samaritans at www.samaritans.org
If you would like to volunteer for Samaritans in Wales please contact Samaritans volunteering team on 08705 62 72 82.
