Peterborough

Please be advised that we are not currently accepting face-to-face visitors at the branch.

Peterborough Samaritans has been supporting Peterborough and the surrounding area since 1970.

What's going on in Peterborough?

As well as delivering our listening service, we support HMP Peterborough and HMP North Sea Camp by training prisoners to provide emotional support.

We also regularly deliver talks and/or training at Colleges/Universities, local employers and community groups.

Becoming a volunteer

Our city is multi-cultural and wonderfully diverse. We are actively seeking to attain more diversity in our volunteer workforce and warmly welcome applications from people of all ethnic backgrounds.

We are always on the lookout for new volunteers either to provide emotional support or work behind the scenes to help the branch run smoothly. Why not join us and help make a real difference to people’s lives, be part of a large community and learn new skills that are relevant to work and everyday life.

Volunteer roles and time commitments

We are actively looking for volunteers who can fulfil any of the following roles and the associated time commitments in our branch:

Night Listening Volunteers (Priority Need)

8 hours of listening shifts between the hours of 02:00 - 06:00 per month.

Demand for our helpline is highest overnight and during the early hours of the morning.
Sadly, callers at these times are also twice as likely to be in immediate crisis (i.e., experiencing suicidal thoughts, having a suicidal plan or attempting suicide on the call).

As such, we are currently prioritising the recruitment and training of Night Listening Volunteers.

We’ll cover your travel expenses (e.g., mileage, taxi fares), in line with our Volunteers’ Expenses Policy, so that you can get to and from the branch safely during these hours.

Regular Listening Volunteers

12 hours of listening shifts per month.

Over the course of the year, we expect you to complete 12 hours of night shifts between the hours of 02:00 - 06:00 as part of your commitment.

As a Regular Listening Volunteer, you may support our callers:
Over the phone at any time; or via our online chat service at the following times:

• Monday: 6pm to 10pm
• Tuesday: 6pm to 10pm
• Wednesday: 6pm to 10pm
• Thursday: 6pm to 10pm
• Friday: 6pm to 10pm
• Sunday: 6pm to 8pm

Support Volunteers

Support Volunteers work closely with our branch volunteer teams and carry out mainly administrative duties to keep our branch operating smoothly.

This could include supporting us in the following areas:

• Marketing – This might involve keeping our website up to date, writing press releases and/or producing newsletters.
• Volunteer Enquiries – Help us respond to enquiries from potential new volunteers and support them through the selection process.
• Volunteer Training Support – Support our new listening volunteers as they progress through their training.
• IT Support – Help us keep our technology and systems up to date and running smoothly.
• Fundraising – Help us organise fundraising events or acquire grants to raise money that will keep our services running.

These are flexible, interesting and fulfilling roles and could require approximately 8-12 hours of volunteering per month.

We believe you should never be out of pocket as a result of volunteering with us. We will reimburse reasonable travel and other out-of-pocket expenses incurred during your volunteering activities, in accordance with the branch’s Volunteer Expenses Policy.
In particular, we’ll cover your travel expenses to and from the branch.

If you think you could help us in any of these roles, we would love to hear from you.
Please contact us on the volunteer email below.

Information sessions:

We hold regular information sessions for people interested in volunteering. Our upcoming information sessions are listed below.

Thursday evening session start at 7pm:

Thursday 26 March 2026
Thursday 28 May 2026
Thursday 30 July 2026
Thursday 29 October 2026

Sunday sessions start at 10 am:

Sunday 22 February 2026
Sunday 26 April 2026
Sunday 28 June 2026
Sunday 27 September 2026
Sunday 29 November 2026

All sessions will be in person at our office:
Ground Floor, 40 Tyndall Court, Commerce Road, Lynch Wood, Peterborough PE2 6LR.

Each information session gives you an idea of what exactly Samaritans do, how we are trained, the type of calls you will have to deal with and how to help people in distress who need someone to talk to in times of crisis.

If you'd like to hear more email us on:
[email protected]

Recent Awareness Events

Eid in the Park
Samaritans Brew Monday
Reaching Out in Peterborough

Branch Twitter Account

Please follow us on Twitter to find out what's going on at Peterborough Samaritans.

You can find us here: @pborosams

Our privacy statement

At Samaritans, privacy is at the heart of what we do. We are committed to protecting your privacy and the personal information that we hold. Read our privacy statement here.