All our services are planned and run by unpaid volunteers
The man or woman who answers your call in the middle of the night is a volunteer.
The assistant who helps you in our Charity Shop is a volunteer.
The speaker from Samaritans at your club or society or workplace is a volunteer.
So also are the Samaritans you might meet very early one morning offering you a leaflet at a railway station, or talking to children at a school about how they can help their friends when they are worried or upset. And we do all the essential but less obvious backroom tasks ourselves too - running a service 24 hours a day, every day of the year, needs a lot of organisation.
So we are delighted to be joined this week by 16 new volunteers who are starting our 10 month training programme. During this time they will each undertake 42 hours of formal training, at least 35 hours providing direct support, under supervision, to people needing help and a six month Probationary period. Their training is spread over many months as our volunteers fit their time at Samaritans around jobs, studying and family commitments.
Volunteers' Week gives us a chance to thank them, and our 157 existing volunteers, for giving up their time to help people who are upset, or troubled, or who may be struggling to cope with what life has thrown at them.
If you would like to join them, you can find out more about what's involved here
Taking it in - new volunteers at their first training session
