Volunteering at Bognor Regis Chichester & District Samaritans

There are many reasons why callers contact us. We will listen to them and encourage them to feel able to talk about their feelings. We give them time to speak about what is troubling them. Many people are under the impression that we only speak to callers who are suicidal. This isn't accurate nor true of many of the callers that choose to contact to us.

Training to be volunteer takes place over a number consecutive weeks; there is a lot to learn and after the initial training you will be assigned a mentor to work closely with you to prepare for listening. At the end of the training journey new volunteers will have developed the confidence to take their first call.

The training has been developed for all Samaritans branches, so when someone in need calls us, they can expect the same high standard wherever the call is answered.

How long is the training?

For listening volunteers, the training is as follows:

• Initial training takes place over a 7-week period which includes 6 in person group training sessions. ( you must attend all these sessions)
• There are some online modules to complete in advance of each training session.
• On completion of the initial training, you will then be appointed to work with an experienced volunteer who will mentor you until such time as you both feel it is appropriate for you to operate on your own.
• This is followed up with a further 5 in person group sessions, and more digital training sessions over the next 6 months.
• Training and ongoing mentoring continues during your time as a volunteer.

What do I do if I can’t make all the training dates?

Our team will give you as much notice as possible of the course dates in advance and if we can’t make it work for the upcoming training cohort, we will work with you to be available for the one after. It is important you make the dates that are set, if you can't please let us know well ahead of time.

How often do you run training courses?

Currently our Recruitment and Training teams are working together to run two training courses per year. There is also an option to train online at the Samaritans Central Training School, ask about this option if you are interested in training this way.

Where do I go for the training?

Currently, all our training is undertaken in person in our Bognor Regis branch. In certain circumstances, we will enlist the help of other branches and the central charity and undertake online training using Zoom.

What if listening isn’t for me?

Listening isn’t for everyone. We are always looking for support volunteers who play an integral part in keeping our branch running. Support volunteers help out in roles such as Treasurer and Branch Secretary. In addition to this, they help to keep our IT in order, helping with the branch administration, publicity and fundraising.

Please note that for some non-listening roles, the same initial training will be required. Our volunteers can talk you through the roles we need. Please register your interest so that you can attend one of our Information Evenings where you can learn more about what Samaritans does and the roles we have.

If you would like further information about non-listening roles, please email our recruitment team and one of our team will contact you.

Who takes the training?

All our trainers are current branch listening volunteers or you may be trained at our Central Samaritans Training School

If volunteering with us sounds like it’s for you, it’s very easy to apply:

Please register your interest at: https://www.samaritans.org/support-us/volunteer/

Your enquiry will be sent to our Recruitment team here in Bognor and we will contact you to attend an Information Evening. Please allow up to a couple of weeks for us to respond to you. Our Recruitment team are all volunteers and will come back to you as soon as they can.

Thank you for learning more about what we do and how you can join us.

We hope to see you very soon.