Service
Our best for every caller
We aim to provide a high standard of service every time someone contacts us, however they choose to do so.
Self-help
This year we acted on feedback from users to make our self-help app even better. The app, which had almost 80,000 sign-ups by April 2022, now includes ‘in the moment’ techniques to help people when they need a way to escape difficult thoughts and get back to the present. And we’ve made it so people don’t have to have an account to access relaxation techniques.
Tech tools
We can only be our best for callers with the right technology behind us, and this year we completed a charity-wide deployment of new computers. Standardising our equipment saves money and is easier to support; when something goes wrong, we can fix it more quickly. We also continued work to ensure our branch telephony systems move with the times, so our helpline won’t be affected as landline technology is phased out.
Safeguarding
Our new safeguarding training launched in September 2021 and was rapidly rolled out across the charity. Greater safeguarding skills among our people, and the forthcoming Samaritans safeguarding hub – a network of specialist volunteers to support safeguarding cases – will work hand in hand to improve the safety of vulnerable people who contact us.
This year, Samaritans answered a call for help every 10 seconds.
This included:
8,000 calls for help from serving and ex-military personnel
17,000 calls from NHS and social care workers
410,000 calls for help from people in prison
The most common concerns this year were around mental health, family, loneliness and relationship problems. Suicidal feelings were expressed in 1 in 5 calls for help. People talked about self-harm in 1 in 12 calls for help.
In 2021, as pandemic restrictions eased, our face-to-face support could restart. We were present at events and festivals attended by nearly 600,000 people. Samaritans volunteers held over 1,500 outreach events, for example with local community groups, at workplaces, in hospitals and schools.
I was lonely and struggling with a lot of pain – that’s when I called Samaritans. Every person I spoke to said the same thing: “You can call us again you know. It’s OK, you can call us more than once, whenever you need to, call us.”
Bella