We’d like you to join us in volunteering with Portsmouth Samaritans.
We’re a diverse group from a wide range of different backgrounds. We all share a common interest in wanting to help people in distress. We volunteer with Portsmouth Samaritans because we know we make a real difference to people who are struggling and in distress. Talking to us helps them to get things in perspective, think more clearly, and find a way forward. Sometimes callers will tell us something about themselves that is always on their mind, but which they’ve never felt able to tell anyone else about. Talking to us opens for the door for them to talk to others, and find a way forward.
Sometimes, at the start of a call, our callers are so upset they struggle to put words together. We give them time and space, and in time they become calm and coherent. It’s a lovely moment in a call when that happens.
A minority of our callers are actively thinking about ending their own lives. Usually, talking to us helps them find a wider perspective, and fresh hope that things will get better.
What it takes to be a volunteer
Almost anyone over 18 can be a volunteer, but there are a few attributes you need:
- To be open minded: willing to see the world as someone else sees it
- Empathy: able to share someone else’s feeling
- Discreet: what you hear at Samaritans stays at Samaritans
- Supportive: we all support our fellow volunteers
- Time: we ask for 4 3-hour shifts a month, including one night shift
The pathway to being a listening volunteer
There are four main steps:
- Come to an information event: run by our volunteers, we tell you what we do and don’t do, and answer your questions
- An interview: a chance for you to ask more questions, and talk through if the role is right for you, with two of our volunteers
- Training: lead by some of our volunteers
- Mentoring: for your first 6 shifts one of us will be with you every step of the way.
How we support our volunteers
You are never alone as a volunteer. There’s always at least one colleague on every shift, and we talk through our calls. There’s also a Shift Leader available if we have any questions, and to debrief with us at the end of the shift. And there’s a Volunteer Support team you can contact if there’s something you want to talk through.
Where it all happens
Our base is at 296 London Rd, PO2 9JN. A local business lets us use their car park for shifts. There’s a lounge & kitchen for when you need a break: we get through a lot of tea, coffee and biscuits!
What we get out of it
The main thing we get out of volunteering is knowing that we’ve made a real difference to people in distress. We’ve been there for them when they had no-one else to turn to, and helped them get through their darkest days.
We also find that the skills we learn give us the ability to understand people and manage difficult conversations, which is helpful outside of Samaritans, at home and at work.
We enjoy being part of a friendly and supportive group.
Interested?
If you are interested about joining us, there’s more information on the main Samaritans website here with a link to the online enquiry form, and there’s more about our branch here.
Why we volunteer
We asked our volunteers why they volunteer with us: here's some of their answers.
I think we all need somebody to talk to from time to time, and sometimes it's hard to find that right person, somebody who just wants to listen as we take time to work things through in our own mind. Samaritans does that, and I like the fact that it is all volunteers. It often feels like an honour to be there for others when they are in a time of need. I personally find it very fulfilling.
Martin
When my children were small, I went to a parenting class. The homework was to go home and listen to our children. Really listen – don’t interrupt, challenge or query, pay 100% attention. We came back next week, astounded at how our kids had opened up to us. That lesson stayed with me so that many years later when looking for something useful to do, I applied for Samaritans because I wanted to use that listening skill further. 15 years on and I’m still amazed at the power that listening has, to allow a distressed caller to offload so that they can think more clearly about how they might cope.
Mary
I volunteer for Samaritans because people of any age can feel lonely, unhappy or unable to carry on and it is vital they have someone to reach out at any time.
Steve
I do the 2am to 5am Shift regularly. The intense fear that our callers experience of isolation and no one to talk to means that friends, family, and most organisations that provide a life- line of support to them are not available at this time. I am honoured to be there for them to hear callers confidentially share their experiences and extremely personal life challenges with me, often for the first time. This is what gets me up at 1am and into the Operations Room every week. I know I am truly making a difference.
Julian
I think the main reason I volunteer, and actually enjoy doing it, is because I feel like I can make a real difference to somebody’s life; just being there to listen to people when they’re at their lowest ebb is a privilege and a real gift that I can give. I get so much out of it personally too; makes me feel like I’m making a valuable contribution.
Michelle
I know by actively listening to callers in distress I am able to use my skills as a Sam’s listener to help the caller to begin to understand their own problems and then start to find new ways to make their own life changes.
Elzabeth
Having had friends and family who have been affected by, or struggled with, suicide and seeing how hard it can be to talk about, even with those we love, I thought I could be that ear people can talk to if they need someone to listen.
Ben
Living in an individualistic culture, people can see voluntary work as doing something for nothing and feel they don't have time. I have always chosen to take part in volunteer work, believing it's important to give something back. I think when ones' values are based outside of money alone, it really isn't at all like doing something for nothing. If something is important to you then you make time don't you. There have been so many shifts when I have felt like I was the right Samaritan to take that particular call. Where I've felt that I've connected with the caller and really made a difference. There is no better feeling as a Samaritan than when a caller thanks you for listening to them and understanding. It's very powerful to feel heard. This is what can make the difference to our callers between suffering alone in crisis, to feeling emotionally supported enough to make it through a difficult day. In my time volunteering with Samaritans, the overriding feeling I have is of being proud to be part of something supportive and meaningful within a caring community.
Kelly
There is nothing more rewarding than helping someone through a rough patch. Being part of a 20,000 strong team of people who care for callers in needing a listening ear is a great feeling. Learning to listen to people with problems has taught me so much.
Andrew
I can still visualise the advert on the London Underground which triggered my interest in Samaritans - an old lady's hand reaching out for a dangling phone (yes, this was a l o n g time ago !), and the by-line 'Suicidal ? Contact Samaritans'. I can also remember my thoughts when I saw it - what do you say to someone who feels that way ? What words can you use to talk to someone that will stop them taking their life ? What sort of person do you have to be to be able to support give someone who feels that way ? Those thoughts stayed with me for many years, until I was able to take a deep breath and apply to be a Samaritan. The branch was staffed by demi-gods - people with such amazing experience that nothing ruffled them. People who knew what to say. People who knew how to talk to people who felt like the lady in that advert. And then I started to take calls from people, and it all became clear. Talking isn't the point. People who call Samaritans have never been listened to. They've been ignored, belittled, told what their friends would do in their shoes, advised to do this, advised to do that, told to 'just get on with it', until they just don't say anything at all. Those deep feelings still bottled up inside, thoughts unspoken. No-one listening. . Listening. Those other volunteers in the branch knew that. That's what they shared with me. And now, here I was, listening to callers myself. Showing care for them. Helping them say out loud things they have wanted to say that no-one has listened to before. Just being there. Not talking, not advising, not fixing their problems. 'Just' listening to their feelings. There is nothing more rewarding than knowing that by listening you have given another human being the opportunity to voice their fears, for them to feel that you have cared about them, and for them to feel they are not alone. That's why I am a Samaritan.
Jonathan
I have been alone and in distress and talking to a Samaritan helped me through a difficult time. So later in my life, when I had the time to offer and give something back, volunteering as a Samaritan was something I felt drawn to. I came with the desire, but Samaritans gave me the training and developed my skills and confidence so that I was able to create and hold a safe space for both myself and the caller, in which caller could share their thoughts and feelings, and be heard. The thorough training and the amazing ongoing support we receive makes it possible for an ordinary person like me to offer something extraordinary to others.
Sara