Volunteering at King's Lynn Samaritans

Our incredible volunteers run more than 200 branches and locations across the UK and Ireland. . They offer their time to help to deliver our 24-hour emotional support service to callers in many ways, from answering telephones and emails, to fundraising, generating publicity, administration and finance. You don’t need to have been through a particular life experience or be from a certain walk of life. Anyone who wants to help others, is tolerant and open-minded is welcome to apply.

What you get out of being a volunteer

Above all you’ll have the incredible satisfaction of knowing you’re helping people who are in despair. In addition, you’ll learn valuable new skills, make new friendships, and be part of an amazing group of people. Listening volunteers can change the course of someone’s life but many calls to Samaritans go unanswered because we don’t have enough volunteers. That’s where you come in. You’ll receive full training to prepare you for the kinds of conversations you’ll have. And when you start out, you’ll have a mentor with you, to give you confidence you’re doing the right thing. You’ll gain a range of new skills and the confidence to use them, including the ability to understand people and manage difficult conversations.

Anyone has it in them to be a Samaritan. You won’t need to have previous experience or qualifications, but you will need to be non-judgemental and accepting of others. You need to be 18 or over, and because we'll invest in you (our training is really high quality), you need to see this not just as a short term role but something you're likely to do more long term. Serving police officers and special constables can’t be listening volunteers because they have a duty to report crimes, which might conflict with our policies, although they can volunteer in any other role.

• The King's Lynn Samaritans branch is composed exclusively of volunteers.
• Our 80-strong team supports 20,000 contacts each year around the clock through telephone contact, email and face to face support.
• Our volunteers work extensively in the local community to support anyone experiencing distress or despair.
• We raise awareness with young people through our outreach work in schools and colleges in the King's Lynn and Wisbech area.
• Volunteering with the Samaritans can be a wonderfully rewarding experience.
• Click the link if If you'd like to volunteer with King's Lynn Samaritans, as a listening volunteer