Volunteering to work in prisons

People often express an interest in becoming involved in our prison support work.

The volunteers that take on this duty are generally our more experienced volunteers, but as a minimum, they must have completed at least six months' full membership of the branch before applying to become part of the Branch Prison Support Team. Not every volunteer will be suitable or eligible to be part of the team and therefore each application is considered on an individual basis.

It is important to understand that prison support work, like any outreach work, is always taken on as an additional duty, over and above the core duty of manning the branch telephones.

The first step to exploring your interest in prison support is therefore to find out more about becoming a Samaritans volunteer.  Your local branch would be delighted to hear from you.