Annual Report and Accounts 2011
Letter from the Chair of Samaritans
“Ensuring callers remain at the heart of what we
do”
This financial year marks my last full year in my hugely
privileged role as Chair of Samaritans as I will stand down after 3
years in September 2011.
So much has happened since I took on the role in 2008 and
2010/11 was no exception.
One of the highlights of the year for me was the release of the
much anticipated results of the 2-year evaluation of our service by
the University of Nottingham. This research provides more
evidence on the views of callers about our service than we have
ever had before.
Whilst callers expressed great appreciation of our support, the
evaluation also raises a number of important issues for Samaritans
to think about. So, the theme of our 50th Annual Conference in
September 2010 was 'Here, now, we're listening' and
focused on the needs of callers and how we can work together to
improve our support and reach more people.
It was inspiring to meet so many volunteer who are ready for the
challenge of ensuring that callers remain truly at the centre of
what we do.
Our six year strategy Taking the lead to reduce suicide has
gained significant momentum during 2010/11 with a large number of
projects and initiatives being delivered by branches to support
their local communities.
Volunteers are key to delivering Samaritans
strategy. The support service is provided entirely by volunteers
who are involved at all levels in planning and service support. I
am constantly reminded of the dedication and compassion shown by
fellow Samaritans volunteers, who give on average the equivalent of
33 working days a year to keep their branches running.
Without this commitment we could not continue to
offer support to people in distress and despair.
The partnership with
Network Rail has entered its second year. This project is
a real demonstration of Samaritans working nationally, regionally
and locally for the same ends.
One of the highlights of the year was the
national awareness campaign in partnership with Network
Rail. This was the first time that Samaritans has taken a
really focused approach to targeting our services at one group
within society – men between the ages of 25-55. Evidence
shows that men are three times as likely as women to take their own
lives.
The coverage of this campaign along with the
launch of Samaritans partnerships with Google and Facebook
contributed towards a doubling of media coverage in 2010/11.
Not only does this increased media presence raise the profile of
our service, but it also places Samaritans as an expert voice on
volunteering, the nation’s wellbeing and the issue of
suicide.
Samaritans UK and Republic of Ireland spans five
nations, all of which have very different needs and require
different approaches. Bound together by our national strategy and
the commitment for ‘one voice’ we are able to respond to these
differing needs.
The Republic of Ireland is experiencing severe
recession and increasing rates of suicide.
The rate of suicide in Scotland is higher than
in other parts of the UK – with Greater Glasgow being particularly
affected.
In Wales branches are focusing support on areas
of social and economic deprivation and isolation.
In Northern Ireland Samaritans has been awarded
a contract to monitor the media’s reporting of suicide in the
province as a result of our work across the rest of our
organisation.
With the current economic uncertainty, the onus
is on Samaritans to be available for everyone who needs our
support, wherever they might be in the UK and Republic of
Ireland.
Samaritans has made progress on so many levels
during this financial year but there is still much to do.
We have invested in fundraising over the last 12
months and we will continue to invest over the next 3 years.
This is to enable us to widen our range of fundraising activities
to ensure we can generate the level of income required to achieve
our long term aspirations.
In the coming year we plan to implement a new
telephony solution that will improve access to our service,
maintain the free-to-caller pilot in the UK and continue to build
partnerships across all the Nations.
Most importantly we will begin to take on board
the suggestions made by our callers on how to make our service more
responsive to their needs.
I have been extremely privileged to have been
Chair in this truly volunteer led organisation. Volunteers often
say that they “get more out than they ever put in” and for me that
is also very true.
Samaritans helped me as a caller 25 years ago
and over the last 3 years have allowed me to work with others to
shape our future and to put callers at the heart of our decision
making.
Thank you to all our volunteers, staff and
supporters for making Samaritans such a wonderful organisation to
be part of and thank you every volunteer for being there all day
every day for people who have nowhere else to turn.
Sophie Andrews
Chair, Samaritans
Message from the Chief
Executive