Samaritans History
How it all started
Samaritans was started in 1953 in London by a young vicar called
Chad Varah, who worked in the city parish of St Stephen, Walbrook
in the City. During his career he had offered counselling to his
parishioners, and he increasingly wanted to do something specific
to help people in distress who had no one to turn to.
Chad Varah, founder of
Samaritans
Chad makes reference to one example of a girl aged 14, whom he
had buried - in unconsecrated ground. She had started her periods,
but having no one to talk to believed that she had a sexually
transmitted disease and took her own life.
He says, "I might have dedicated myself to suicide prevention
then and there, providing a network of people you could 'ask' about
anything, however embarrassing, but I didn't come to that until
later".
When Chad was offered charge of the parish of St Stephen,
Walbrook, in the summer of 1953 he knew that the time was right for
him to launch what he called a "999 for the suicidal".
At the time, suicide was still illegal in the UK and so many
people who were in difficult situations and who felt suicidal were
unable to talk to anyone about it, without worrying about the
consequences. A confidential emergency service for people "in
distress who need spiritual aid" was what Chad felt was needed to
address the problems he saw around him. He was, in his own words,
"a man willing to listen, with a base and an emergency
telephone".
Read
an article by Chad Varah, describing the origins and beginnings of
the organisation.
Choosing the number
15 years after the emergency 999 number was set up, the number
MAN 9000 was chosen for the helpline - to signify a human emergency
number. Luckily the number of the church was MANsion house 9000. It
was the first, and is still probably the best-known telephone
helpline in the UK.
The first call to the new service was made on 2nd November 1953
and this date is recognised as Samaritans' official birthday.
However, in two key respects, the service did not become Samaritans
as it is known today until a few months later.
Publicising Samaritans
In order to supplement his income, Chad wrote and illustrated
articles for children's comics like the Daily Eagle, so he knew
many of the journalists who worked on national newspapers. He had
achieved a lot of publicity for the service by telling his contacts
about the new service and on December 7th, 1953 the Daily Mirror
coined the term "Telephone Good Samaritans" and although Samaritans
is not a religious organisation, the name has stuck and become
synonymous with the idea of people being there for others in
emotional distress.
The original Mirror article about Samaritans
The publicity meant that within a few weeks it was clear that
Chad would not be able to cope on his own, such was the demand for
both phone and face to face support. But the newspaper coverage had
attracted volunteers as well as clients. Their official duties were
to provide tea and coffee and sit with the clients, offering them
someone to chat to whilst they waited for their appointment.
However, it soon became clear that their role was much more central
to the service. Often, the clients would pour out their problems to
these 'receptionists' and many felt no need to speak to Chad
afterwards.
Chad understood that the action of speaking to someone they did
not know, who would simply listen to what they had to say, could be
beneficial for people in distress. Because the volunteers were not
known to the clients, they were able to be more honest and open
about their feelings, and they did not feel judged as they might
have by a professional or someone they knew.
Inadvertently, Samaritans was able to give people a space where
they could potentially find objectivity and perhaps a way forward,
through being listened to. The emotional support services offered
by Samaritans today are based on these same principles.
Chad said, "It was a straightforward matter of observation that
the proportion of the callers I actually interviewed diminished,
the ones I did see were easier to help because of the time they had
spent with a volunteer. Eventually I was seeing only about one in
eight of those who came."
The growth of the branches
Publicity for the London-based service in late 1953 created a
lot of interest elsewhere in the UK and as a consequence, several
more Samaritans centres were set up in the following years. The Rev
Jim Blackie became the director of the second Samaritans branch, in
Edinburgh with around 118 volunteers. It took its first call on 1st
June 1959. Several month later, there were also branches in the
other major Scottish cities of Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee. The
first centre in Ulster was opened in 1st November 1961 by Rev Bill
Thompson.
In February 1954, Chad officially handed over the task of
supporting the callers to the volunteers, and Samaritans was
born.
In 1957 The Charity Commission recognised Samaritans as a
telephone helpline charity.
By 1963 there were 41 branches across the whole of the UK and
Ireland. On 11th April 1963, in one of the halls of the London
Guilds, a ceremony was held to establish 'The Samaritans' as a
limited company. The trustees elected Chad the first chair of the
organisation, a position he held until 1966 when the founder of
Belfast branch, Bill Thompson took over the role. Chad continued to
be in charge of many aspects of the service such as selecting and
training volunteers until 1974. Subsequently, his involvement with
Samaritans has continued, primarily working on developing a network
of international support services to mirror Samaritans' work in the
UK, but also to support the shaping the organisation.
The first branch to be opened in the Republic of Ireland was
opened in 1970, in Dublin. Attitudes towards suicide in the
Republic of Ireland were governed primarily by the views of the
Catholic Church, which strongly believed that suicide is a sin.
However, Canon Billy Wynne of the Church of Ireland had run a
counselling service in Dublin similar to Chad's for a number of
years, and when he was contacted by Samaritans, he was positive
about establishing a branch. With help from volunteers from the
Belfast branch, Dublin branch was opened on Monday 2nd March 1970
in a single room, given rent free, scheduled for demolition, in 39
Kildare Street. Over 200 volunteers were part of the branch by the
time of its first annual report in 1971.
As the number of branches increased so did the level of central
administrative work that was required to run the organisation. In
the early days one secretary and one accountant who worked from
branches or homes had carried this out. However, in 1967 Basil
Higginson, the first General Secretary was appointed, and in 1970,
thanks to a donation from the Grocers' Company, a small house was
bought in Slough. This became Samaritans first central or general
office. Since then, staff numbers have increased to 69 and the
general office is now based in Ewell, in Surrey. It carries out
national fundraising and publicity activities, is responsible for
maintaining and developing the technology that underpins Samaritans
service and works closely with each branch to deliver training and
research service development to meet the changing needs of people
who use Samaritans' service.
Chad Varah retires in 1987, as
reported by our newsletter
Developing the single number
Samaritans is best known for the support it provides via the
telephone. Although phone helplines are commonplace today, it was
the first of its kind when it was set up in 1953. It is still the
only emotional support service that is available 24 hours a day to
everyone, everywhere in the UK and Republic of Ireland.
The organisation recognised from its early days that emotional
distress can occur at any time of the day or night when other
services are closed. Hence, where possible, a 24 hour service was
operated by branches from when they opened. Some branches were
limited in their ability to offer this service by the number of
volunteers, but the majority of branches are able to remain open
all the time to take phone calls. All volunteers must commit to
carrying out an overnight duty at least once a month.
Another important facet of Samaritans service has always been
confidentiality. Many people who are in despair would not call us
if they thought that anyone else would find out what they had said,
and so everything that anyone tells Samaritans is completely
confidential, unless the client gives their permission for us to
share that information. This applies even if the caller decides to
take his or her own life - no information will be passed on to
anyone.
Originally each branch had its own phone number, which each
branch publicised individually in its own area. As technology
became more sophisticated, it was possible to set up a single
number for people to call Samaritans from anywhere in the UK and be
charged the price of a local call. Also, the single number
increased the chance of getting through to a Samaritans branch,
because if one branch is engaged, the call can trip through to the
closest branch in the area.
1993 saw the launch of the Republic of Ireland's national 1850
local rate numbers for telephone and minicom and in 1995, 08457
909090 became Samaritans national number in the UK. These numbers
were chosen for their similarity to the original MAN 9000 number.
HRH, Duchess of Kent helped publicly launch the single national
number.
Face to face support
In addition to telephone support, face to face support has
always been available, usually on a drop in basis during daytime
hours. When Samaritans was set up, many people did not have their
own telephone or could not access one but still needed support so
face to face befriending was a vital part of Samaritans service.
Many branches still have private rooms where people can speak in
confidence to a Samaritans volunteer.
Samaritans branches 2007
Letters to Samaritans
Samaritans also soon became aware that the face to face and
telephone service did not meet everyone's needs and that many
people who needed help were not getting in touch. Many people who
did not have a phone were unable to visit a Samaritans branch or
were not used to using the phone to talk about their feelings, and
so in 1972, a correspondence branch was set up. Unlike the other
Samaritans branches, it doesn't exist as a building or centre.
Letters are addressed to Chris at a PO Box number based in
Stirling. A range of volunteers from various branches receive and
answer letters, offering a lifeline for people who cannot get in
touch with Samaritans in other ways.
Festival branch
Festival Branch at Glastonbury
The late 1960s also saw a rise in awareness that Samaritans was
not fully meeting the needs of young people, many of whom had
different lifestyles and a different cultural outlook from other
groups in society at that time. For whatever reason, these people,
who were high risk in terms of distress and suicide, were not
getting in touch with Samaritans. In 1972, volunteers from Central
London and Leicester branches pioneered a different approach by
going out on the road and offering Samaritans support at pop and
rock festivals in a tent. By 1974, this special service was
recognised as a distinct branch and it was named Festival branch.
As the first director, Dirk Blackwell said, "if they won't come to
us, we'd better go to them", and the branch fundraised to buy a
bus, 'Arnold' in which to offer mobile support services.
Since then, Festival branch has attended a range of outdoor
events throughout the UK from Glastonbury to Hell's Angels reunions
to lesbian and gay festivals. Festival branch is open 24 hours a
day during most outdoor events that last for more than one day for
people to drop in, making Samaritans tents one of the most familiar
sights at outdoor events in the country.
The email service
In 1992, Steve Harris, a volunteer in the Cheltenham branch
started a small pilot offering emotional support via email. People
in distress were able to email Samaritans via the address jo@samaritans.org. The scheme was
piloted and extended over eight years until Samaritans was
confident that it - and the volunteers - were ready and able to
meet the demand for the service.
Samaritans support in prisons and local communities
Since 1993, Samaritans has worked with the prison services in
the UK and Republic of Ireland to offer emotional support to
prisoners. People in prisons are seven times more likely to take
their own lives. Samaritans worked with the prison services to
develop a scheme whereby prisoners are selected and trained by
Samaritans to offer emotional support to their fellow inmates.
These specially trained prisoners are called Listeners, and anyone
who has at least six months sentence to serve from the time
training is completed can apply to be a Listener. For more
information on how Samaritans supports prisons, visit Our work in
prisons.
Since it was founded, Samaritans volunteers have gone to
schools, clubs and institutions to tell people about the work that
we do, to fundraise and recruit volunteers and educate people about
emotional health and suicide. Samaritans in Scotland offer training
in listening skills to University nightlines and other support
groups. At times of major disaster, Samaritans is always on hand,
so for example when the tragedy in Dunblane occurred, Scottish
Samaritan volunteers were on hand to offer emotional support to
those affected and man a disaster outreach group.
As the organisation moves further into the 21st century, it
continues to carry out this important educational role and is also
exploring new ways of working with other organisations and
individuals to reach out to people in distress and despair.
In 2006 Samaritans launched DEAL,
Developing Emotional Awareness and Learning, designed to help
schools develop the skills that young people aged 14-16 need to
cope with life's challenges and develop their emotional health and
wellbeing.
Choose Life
has also been awarded
funding by the Scottish Executive to enable us to be a partner in
the Choose Life national strategy to reduce suicide rates in
Scotland by 20% by 2013. Choose Life was launched in 2002 in
response to the rising suicide rates in Scoltand, which have been
and still are consistently higher than in the rest of the UK. Built
on the principles of collective action and active partnerships,
Choose Life aims to stimulate co-ordinated activity across Scotland
at national and local level and across sectors to find ways of
reaching out to and supporting those at risk of suicide.
With the 2-year funding Samaritans will develop the branches and
regional network to ensure that Samaritans can respond to the
Choose Life agenda in the most effective way at local and national
level.
In practical terms this means working with volunteers to
consider ways of:
- Raising awareness of Samaritans services to the general public,
particularly the priority Choose Life groups, to encourage those at
risk to seek help
- Raising the profile of Samaritans as an organisation across all
sectors to ensure that the services we provide are know and
understood, and opportunities for joint working and partnerships
are explored
- Developing and extending outreach work into schools, workplaces
and within the health services in line with work at UK level
- Developing the organisation in Scotland to ensure that the
branch network is supported to build capacity and co-ordinate
activity between national and local levels.
The future
Samaritans hopes to continue exploring ways in which its vision
can be achieved, through working with other organisations,
educating people about the importance of talking about difficult
feelings, developing an organisation that is international in
scope, but most importantly, through continuing to offer the
24-hour confidential emotional support for which it is best
known.