Skip to main content
Samaritans homepage
  • Donate now
  • Contact a Samaritan
Samaritans homepage
  • How we can help
    How we can help
    • Talk to someone
      • On the phone
      • By email
      • Write a letter
      • Find a branch
      • Self-help app
    • If you're having a difficult time
      • Signs you may be struggling to cope
      • Support groups for people bereaved by suicide
      • I want to kill myself
      If you're worried about someone else
      • If you think it's an emergency
      • Supporting someone with suicidal thoughts
      • How to support someone you're worried about
      • In the workplace
      • In schools
      • In prisons
      • In the military
      • In health and care
  • Support us
    Support us
    • Volunteer for Samaritans Be there for people who desperately need someone
    • Events and fundraising Take part in an event or fundraise in your own way
    • Donate now Just £5 can fund the cost of a call
    • Online shop Browse our brilliant range of carefully sourced products for every occasion
    • Corporate partnerships There are many ways your company can support our work
    • Leave a gift in your Will You can pass on something wonderful
    • More ways to support us
  • Donate now
  • Contact a Samaritan
  • Home
  • How we can help
  • In schools
  • DEAL: Developing Emotional Awareness and Listening
  • DEAL resources
  • DEAL: connecting with others

DEAL: it’s good to talk (Assessment activity)

This session teaches people to consider the benefits or risks of asking for help.

In this session we will learn: help that’s available; how to access and accept help when it is offered; to think through potential outcomes of different choices; to make the right choices about seeking and accepting help; to challenge the stigma or anxiety associated with asking for or accepting help; to consider the benefits or risks of asking for help

1 hour assessment activity

Create a safe and positive learning environment by agreeing ground rules for the session.

Download the session: It’s Good to Talk

This session is creative and may need longer than one session.

(You could ask your local Samaritans branch to support you with this session).

Download document: Samaritans information sheet - handout

172.8 kb - PDF

Additional resources

  • large pieces of paper and pens
  • recording and filming equipment – for possible extension activity
  • websites – NSPCC; Breathing Space; ChildLine; Beat Bullying; Young Minds ; National Self Harm Network

Digital resources

  • U can cope film (Youtube)
  • Samaritans adverts – film clips (Youtube)

Activity

  1. Watch one or two of the Samaritans film clips.
  2. Ask the students to think about what message the Samaritans advert is trying to get across?
  3. Write down the key messages that students feedback.
  4. Include: The risks of asking and not asking for help, the importance of asking for help, different strategies for seeking help and support.
  5. Provide resources for students to research information about where and how to access support.
  6. In small groups, students create an advert or develop an interview, which could be recorded or filmed to encourage other students their age to seek help if they need it.
  7. Allow plenty of time for planning and creating ideas.
  8. Possible session two: Share ideas, show/play recordings and give feedback.

Alternative exercise: Ask students to produce a poster promoting help-seeking behaviour which challenges the stigma around asking for help when it is needed. The poster should explain the importance of talking and how it can help. It should list contact details of people who may be able to help.

Reflection

  • What have we learnt about the benefits and the risks of asking for help?
  • How are we better able to handle asking for help?

Make sure students know that there are places they can go to for help and how to contact them.

Please send us any good examples of posters or adverts, as we could share them with other schools

Make sure young people know what support is available and how to access this support.

  • Scotland
  • Republic of Ireland
  • Northern Ireland
  • Wales

Some of the content you’re seeing is based on the country you’re browsing from.

How we can help

  • Contact a Samaritan
  • If you're having a difficult time
  • If you're worried about someone else
  • Talk to us on the phone
  • Complaints, concerns and feedback

Support us

  • Volunteer for Samaritans
  • Donate now
  • Online shop
  • Supporter queries
  • Events and fundraising
  • Other ways to support us

Policy and research

  • Our policy and research
  • Suicide facts and figures
  • Campaigns
  • Supporting less well-off, middle-aged men

About Samaritans

  • What we do
  • Jobs
  • Contact us
  • News
  • Our strategy

116 123

Call us free, day or night, 365 days a year

Newsletter

Stay on top of our latest news and updates

Self-help app

Keep track of how you're feeling, and get recommendations for things you can do to help yourself cope, feel better and stay safe in a crisis

  • News
  • Jobs
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Cookies
  • Legal
  • Feedback

Samaritans is a charity registered in England and Wales (219432) and in Scotland (SC040604) and incorporated in England and Wales as a company limited by guarantee (757372). Samaritans Ireland is a charity registered in the Republic of Ireland (20033668) and incorporated in the Republic of Ireland as a company limited by guarantee (450409). Samaritans Enterprises is a private limited company (01451175).