Access
Right place, right time, right support
We strive to make sure people who might need us, know about us, and to offer support that suits them.
Online chat
The way that people want to communicate is changing. We’re working to develop, pilot and roll out an online chat service so more people who are struggling to cope can reach out to us in a way that suits them.
September marked a year since we launched the pilot of our online chat service. We’re taking a gradual approach to rolling it out to make sure we can meet demand. We now have 73 branches and locations involved in delivering the service. Last year, we had over 38,000 online conversations and provided over 700 hours of online chat.
"I’m involved in the prison outreach. We had one prison Listener who shared that his wife had remarked on the change in him. Now, when she comes in, he asks her questions about how she’s feeling and coping and how the kids are. It revolutionised their relationship – it’s powerful stuff."
Louisa, Samaritans volunteer in Dublin
Louisa at our Dublin branch
Prison Listeners
In 2021, we answered over 410,000 calls to our prisoner helpline – 60,000 more than the previous year. People in prison trained as Samaritans Listeners spent over 14,000 hours responding to over 25,000 calls for help from their peers. We also continued rolling out our ‘postvention’ services: when Samaritans provide specific support following a suicide. The vital prison Listener service was secured until 2025 with a grant from HM Prison and Probation Service.
Military programme
We were contacted 8,000 times by serving and ex-serving individuals this year and more than 1 in 3 expressed suicidal thoughts (compared to 1 in 5 non-military calls). Following a year of preparatory work with the armed forces charity SSAFA, we are now poised to begin development of a joint veteran suicide prevention strategy.
Our free Samaritans Veterans app launched in October 2021 and more than 2,000 users signed up. The app provides techniques to help veterans reflect on their service, manage their feelings, identify potential challenges and find further sources of support. It is accompanied by a printed pocket guide, being distributed by us and the Ministry of Defence.
Education
Samaritans continues to provide practical support to schools, colleges and universities. We had 171 enquiries to our Step by Step service, which provides support to help schools prepare for and recover from a suspected or attempted suicide.
This year we forged an innovative partnership with Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge. A new campus duty room staffed by fully trained students is helping us to meet demand for our online chat service. The initiative is part of our work to broaden the range of skills and experience among our volunteer base and is providing valuable grounding and experience for students studying to join caring professions.
Missing people
We’ve built on our partnership with the charity Missing People by launching Suicide Textsafe. When a missing person is considered to be at high risk of suicide, Missing People now send them a text with our helpline number. Missing People also notify us, and a Samaritan attempts to call the person to offer immediate emotional support. This year we made an average of 134 calls a month to missing persons through the Suicide Textsafe scheme.