Past President Mike Turner greets Samaritans Carole and Ken, with club member Reggie Patterson (L)

Coleraine Probus and the Samaritans

Guests at a recent Probus Club meeting were Carol and Ken, and gave a talk about the SAMARITANS and the organisation’s local office and drop in centre on the Lodge Road here in Coleraine.

The “Samaritans” were founded in 1953 by the late Prebendary Dr. Chad Varah when he was Vicar of St. Stephen’s Church Walbrook, in the heart of the City of London. His very first service in the ministry occasioned the burial of a 14 year old girl who had killed herself. This had a profound affect on Chad Varah, and which prompted him to establish “The Samaritans” some years later.

To find out ’Why I started the Samaritans’ - Just ‘Click’ the photo of Chad Varah
(this will open in a new window)

The Samaritans currently have 201 branches in the UK (including 8 in N. Ireland with a further 12 in the Republic of Ireland), all staffed by 22,000 unpaid, specially trained, volunteers with ages ranging from 18 to 80. Last year the Samaritans received 5.5 million calls across the UK; roughly 10% of the population, 20% of these could be classified as suicidal.

The main aim for the Samaritans is to relieve stress and help people through times when they feel ‘helpless’; to be a listening ear when callers worries and the pressures they feel, leave them without hope. Most calls to the Samaritans come during the evenings; at weekends, and during public holidays - especially at Christmas and New Year, when generally more people are in festive mood, and with their families; leaving lonely vulnerable people feeling more depressed and isolated. The main categories for callers are; loneliness; bullying at work; benefit claimants; social disgrace (have been in prison, out of work etc.), and farmers.

In the island of Ireland, over 300 people took their lives in the last year; men being three times more likely to commit suicide. Volunteers are available around the clock to take confidential calls, emails, letters or face to face visits from anyone struggling to cope, what ever the problem, whoever the person. Links to other agencies are also available, but the Samaritans are generally at their busiest when most other helping services are closed for the day. A fairly new scheme is where experienced volunteers visit local prisons twice a year to train prisoners in a one to one listening scheme with other inmates.

Probus club members were very impressed with the dedication, patience and understanding the Samaritan volunteers have in tackling so many stressful phone calls. Knowing that there is always someone who is there to talk to and provide a safe and confidential place where callers can express their true self and worries surely makes a huge contribution in reducing the terrible number of people that sadly take their own lives.

For more information about the Samaritans, “Click’ the logo below (this will open in a new window).