Our vision, mission and strategic priorities in Scotland

Our vision, mission and strategic priorities

Our vision is that fewer people die by suicide

To achieve this, we believe Samaritans has a crucial role to play in:

• Reducing the risk factors that make some people more likely to take their own lives.
• Ensuring that people who are at increased risk of suicide are supported.
• Making it less likely that people who do experience suicidal thoughts act on them.
• Reducing the likelihood that people will develop suicidal thoughts.

Our mission

We’re here every day and night of the year for anyone struggling to cope. We make sure people have somewhere to turn and support when they need it most. We work with communities to let people know we’re here for them and we campaign to make suicide prevention a priority.

Our organisational strategic priorities 2022–27

We've worked closely with people who have contacted Samaritans, been affected by suicide or suicidal thoughts and those who volunteer and work with us or support us to identify five major ambitions for our new strategy to improve: Access, Reach, Impact, Capacity and Sustainability.

1. Make sure anyone who needs us can access our support

We'll work hard to ensure people who seek our support can reach us how and when they need to, by training more volunteers and working innovatively on new ways to connect with us, like online chat, alongside continually reviewing and improving our phone, email and in-person listening services.

2. Reach more people to let them know we’re here

We’ll actively go out into a more diverse range of communities so that the people who need us most see us, trust us and know we're here for them. We will do this together with the most relevant people, organisations and industries as well as strengthening our existing work within local communities.

3. Make our voice heard at a national, regional and local level for maximum impact

We'll push harder to make suicide prevention a priority nationally, regionally and locally across the UK and Republic of Ireland, working collaboratively to make changes that save lives. We will listen to people who have been affected by suicide or suicidal thoughts and identify key areas that need more research, in order to help us make the greatest change.

4. Increase our organisational capacity to become one team of valued, diverse, skilled people

We'll strive to become more flexible and supportive so that a wider range of people can fit volunteering into their lives and so we fully reflect the communities we serve. We will support personal development, which will encourage and inspire volunteers and staff to commit to us for as long as possible.

5. Build meaningful relationships with supporters to ensure our sustainability

We'll create ways for the people and organisations who support us to add their energy, resources and experience to our work so that together we can be there for those who need us for years to come.

Our commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion is one of the key principles in our new strategy. It will connect with everything we do at Samaritans, guiding the way we work and behave.

Our EDI commitment is available on our website.

Delivery In Scotland

In Scotland, we will, over the next two years, commit to objectives to deliver on these priorities in the context of Scottish needs and opportunities. The following Scottish-specific objectives sit alongside objectives in the overarching Samaritans strategy, which will apply right across the UK & Republic of Ireland and which will be rolled out gradually over the next five years.