Outreach - Reaching Out to High Risk Groups
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With your help we can reduce the number of deaths by suicide

It is the aim of Samaritans to make emotional health a mainstream issue. Samaritans' vision is for a society where fewer people die by suicide because people are able to share feelings of emotional distress openly without fear of being judged.

We strongly believe that there are benefits in going out and visiting organisations, groups and schools to explain the sort of work that we do and to remove the taboos surrounding emotional health. If people know about us then they know where we are when they need us.

A dedicated team of volunteers from the Bexley & Dartford Samaritans takes our work out into the community by:

* giving school talks to both primary and secondary schools
* giving talks to clubs, people at their workplace and groups of professionals
* manning stands at events such as Danson Festival and Dartford Festival.
* providing leaflets, posters, bookmarks to local educational establishments.

By talking about suicide, depression and emotions, we hope we can dispel some of the myths and taboos that surround these subjects.

We therefore have a very dedicated team who will come to your organisation and talk to you about our work. If you would like to arrange a talk then contact us on 02083011010 and we will be happy to make arrangements with you.

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Our Work in Prisons

The occurrence of suicides of people in prison has long been a cause for concern. Samaritans and the Prison Service are continuing to work in close partnership to develop new initiatives to address this worrying trend.

Bexley & Dartford Samaritans works with HMP Belmarsh, a high-security men’s prison in Thamesmead, South-East London. Listeners are prisoners themselves, trained by Samaritans to offer emotional support to fellow inmates in distress, in just the same way that Samaritans support the wider community.

A team of trained Samaritan volunteers from our branch visits Belmarsh each week to meet the Listeners and hear about their calls. We offer support, guidance and training. About once a year we select and train new prisoners who are keen to become Listeners. The work the Listeners do can be very challenging and we often feel that they have a harder job than ours in the branch – obviously they are in prison themselves, with their own issues, and they have the added difficulty that they often know their callers. We are immensely grateful to them for being prepared to put themselves in the position of being a Listener, which is sometimes difficult, but can also be very rewarding.
 

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Our School Talks Programme

The need to be active in the wider community continues to be an important priority of Samaritans, particularly in the present climate.

Local Education Authorities, headteachers and school governors are becoming more aware of the emotional and pastoral needs of the young people in their care and the need to offer support to their pupils.

The rates of suicide, attempted suicide and self harm continue to rise and every effort must be made to close the gaps in the safety net.

In many schools, Samaritans talks are becoming an integral part of the school programme of personal & social education. By reaching out in this way Bexley & Dartford Samaritans hopes to give young people, particularly the vulnerable, the knowledge that there is someone out there who will listen in complete confidence and without prejudice to those who are seeking emotional support.

If you would like to know more about our work in this area, or if you would like to arrange a school talk please contact our branch on 020 8301 1010 where one of the Samaritans on duty will arrange for you to be contacted by the outreach coordinator.

Teaching resources for schools

Samaritans DEAL programme (Developing Emotional Awareness and Learning) is a resource for schools, designed to improve the emotional health of 14-16 year olds and develop the skills that young people need to cope with life's challenges.

DEAL can also be used to discuss challenging topics like depression and self-harm in an open and positive way.

Find out more about DEAL, our work in schools and to download free DEAL resources from www.samaritans.org

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