Samaritans (2/4) By Michelle Dee

(1/4), (2/4), (3/4), (4/4).

As well as being trained listeners the volunteers come from all walks of life, including doctors, nurses, solicitors, teachers, I.T. staff, homemakers and other full and part time employees.

There is also an almost even balance between male and female volunteers. The misconception that Samaritans have some links to religious organisations is also completely misguided. To try to tackle the belief that they were a religious organisation, a name change was considered. After much debate it was decided a complete name change would be adverse to the widely recognised identity they have built up since its conception in 1963. However, a decision was made to drop the, The at the beginning of their name; this was done to make the organisation appear more friendly and welcoming. During my research for this article, I was amazed to find Samaritans believe that everyone has the right to make fundamental decisions about their lives, including the decision to die by suicide. This belief will surprise many in society - who would have thought that Samaritans of all people would advocate such a belief?

Currently the Hull branch has 60 volunteers. This is some forty or so people short of its desired figure, if it is to deliver a 24-hour service 365 days of the year. To try and fill this gap Martin is visiting local organisations such as Age Concern, Hull Roundtable plus others to try and tell people what Samaritans work involves. These talks are both informative and entertaining and have been well received in the city.

As early as next week there is a planned visit to a local school to talk to the pupils about the unique service offered by Samaritans. Information about Samaritans is to be passed on as part of their P.S.H.E. and Citizenship classes.

Samaritans are also involved in commissioning research in the area of emotional health, to increase our understanding of self-harm, stress and suicide. The numbers of suicides are staggering. As many as 6000 people in the UK and N. Ireland successfully took their own lives in 2001. Issues around self-harm appear to be rising; an estimated 143,000 people self harm in our society. More than 24,000 teenagers are admitted to hospital in the UK each year after deliberately harming themselves.

There has been some research undertaken amongst our younger generation to investigate the apparent rise in self-harm behaviour. In a study of 6020 pupils, conducted in 41 schools of differing stature, it was found that 10% of 15/16 year olds had deliberately self-harmed, 7% in the last year. Young people increasingly feel they have no one to talk to and some do not wish to go on with things as they are. Some individuals invariably feel isolated, ignored and desperate.

The rise in actual suicides, particularly amongst young men, was highlighted in the 90's and to try and combat the figures an Email service was set up, providing the same response as the listeners by phone, albeit electronically. Surprisingly the figures show that more women use the Email facility than men. Last year Samaritans dealt with 100,000 emails; they guarantee a response within 24 hrs, which is quite a feat for any organisation, never mind one run by volunteers.

There are listener schemes inside our prisons set up by Samaritan volunteers. Prisons also suffer high rates of suicide, especially with the growing numbers of inmates leading to overcrowding. Conditions inside prisons lead to a lack of prison staff, reducing the staff to prisoner ratio further thus the space is created for these desperate prisoners to take their own lives. If one of the reasons suicides in the Armed Forces are rising is the officer to recruit ratio increasing - bearing in mind those people are free members of society - it is hardly surprising there is a need to try and help those who have similar regimental lives, albeit imprisoned ones.

Continued ...next page(3/4),

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