Priority 2: Reach
Reaching people who need us most
Our ambition
People who need help the most, and those around them, are aware that support is there for them, know how to access it and understand how it can help.
Our challenge
Suicide could affect anyone at any time in their life and Samaritans is here for anyone feeling suicidal.
But there are also factors that mean some people face greater challenges in getting the support they need, often linked to wider inequalities. We’ll focus on reaching communities where barriers to seeking or accessing support may be greatest.
How we will achieve this
- When we talk about and promote our services, we’ll make it clearer that we are here for people when they’re in emotional crisis or having suicidal thoughts, to increase the number of crisis calls we can answer.
- We’ll also develop a targeted approach to preventing suicide for the groups and communities where we can have the greatest impact. We have identified six groups that we will focus on: middle aged men, people going through financial difficulty, people who have self-harmed, people in prison, LGBTQ+ communities and racialised communities. This is based on a number of factors, including evidence of increased or increasing risk of suicide, and where there are known barriers to seeking help.
- We’ll work in partnership with organisations and groups to strengthen our reach where there is a greater need for suicide prevention.
- We’ll provide Samaritans’ training and engagement programmes (STEP) to upskill individuals and organisations that are able to reach at-risk groups and help prevent suicides.
- Working with our volunteer leaders, we’ll develop a new, more targeted approach to how our volunteers provide emotional support outside of branches to reach people who are experiencing emotional crisis and feeling suicidal.
- Through targeted communications, media engagement and partnerships, we’ll ensure that people at risk of suicide – and those around them – know Samaritans is here and feel able to seek support.
Our impact
By 2036, we will reach more people who are in crisis and feeling suicidal through targeted communication, strong partnerships and focused outreach. We’ll focus on reaching groups and communities who are at risk of suicide, who may be less likely to access support, or who may face additional barriers to seeking help, and we’ll be clear about how Samaritans can help.
I spent a lot of my life not talking about the problems that I had and I think I was a victim of toxic masculinity; I hate the phrase, “man up.” I took the approach that men don’t talk about this stuff and tried to deal with things myself. But by doing so my problems got worse. Samaritans gives you an outlet. Without that call, I might not be here today – that’s the honest answer.
Gareth