2008, May 08

Bridgend Samaritans appoints first youth ambassador

Date: 08^th May 2008

Contact: Darren Matthews

Phone: +44 (0)1656 662 333

Email: bridgend@samaritans.org

Bridgend Samaritans is appointing its first ever Youth Ambassador, 16 year-old Jesse Owens, to raise awareness of the work of the emotional support charity and reach out to young people in distress.

Branch Director Darren Matthews created the unique role of Youth Ambassador after a number of young people applied to the charity to become volunteers following the deaths of young people within the county. Darren said: “Samaritans listening volunteers must be 18 years old on completion of their training and so we were not able to offer listening roles to the young people applying to become volunteers. But I didn't want to turn away potential enthusiastic young people and so decided to look at other opportunities for them.”

The aim of the Youth Ambassador will be to raise awareness of the work of Samaritans by meeting young people at organised events, giving talks to youth groups across the county, encouraging discussion and receiving feedback on how young people view emotional health issues and Samaritans as an organisation. The views and ideas of young people will be very useful when planning targeted campaigns with their needs in mind. “Having younger people volunteering for us will allow us to forge stronger links with people of a similar age in our community, a group that sometimes have difficulty in seeing how we are relevant to them.” Darren added.

At 16 years old, Jesse, is one of the youngest volunteers within Samaritans. Jesse lives in Porthcawl and is currently studying for his A-level examinations at Porthcawl Comprehensive School. He said: "I feel really privileged to be given this opportunity, and hopefully the role that I have been assigned will make increasing changes in the Bridgend community and surrounding areas and encourage more young people to contact Samaritans. It would be great if the Youth Ambassador role was rolled out in more branches of the charity to give young people the chance to get involved with Samaritans at an earlier age.”

Anyone who is interested in becoming a Youth Ambassador for Samaritans or a listening volunteer can contact Darren Matthews, Branch Director, on 01656 662 333 or email bridgend@samaritans.org

Thanks to all the players, everyone that gave donations and prizes and those that showed their support on the day. Hope you enjoyed yourselves! If anyone is interested in organising this or any other event next year for Bridgend Samaritans please get in contact with Jan Watson on: 01656662333.

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Notes to editors

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. Samaritans believes that offering people the opportunity to be listened to in confidence, and accepted without prejudice, can alleviate despair and suicidal feelings.

Samaritans is a registered charity, founded in 1953, which offers 24-hour confidential emotional support to anyone in emotional distress. The service is offered by 16,800 trained volunteers and is entirely dependent on voluntary support. Across the UK, you can call Samaritans on 08457 90 90 90 (1850 60 90 90 in the Republic of Ireland) email jo@samaritans.org, write to Samaritans at Chris, PO Box 9090, Stirling, FK8 2SA, or if you are deaf or hard of hearing use the single national minicom number 08457 90 91 92. Log on to www.samaritans.org for more information. Calls from BT will be charged at up to 4 pence per minute at all times. A call set-up fee of 3 pence per minute applies to calls from residential lines. Mobile and other providers' charges may vary.