Edinburgh

Our volunteers

Each year our approx 190 volunteers

• Donate 26,000 hours to supporting people who contact us.
• Respond to almost 30,000 contacts via phone and email
• See over 180 people who visit our branch for support
• Support our local community through partnerships with local organisations
• Raise awareness of our services through school and university outreach
• Runs Listeners Scheme in two local prisons.

Our Impact

Edinburgh & the Lothian Branch was the first Samaritans Branch to open in Scotland in 1959, and is the 2nd oldest branch of Samaritans in the UK. We are available 24 hours a day, every day of the year to support people who are struggling to cope.

“The whole tone of the voice and the way they relate to a caller - there’s a kind of compassion and sensitivity to how they treat you, and how they speak to you.” Samaritans Caller

When someone contacts us, our volunteers are there to actively listen and support them whilst they explore their feelings. Being able to give a person a human connection and their own space hopefully helps them feel supported and less alone with their feelings.

In a recent study, callers to Samaritans reported a significant reduction in distress after calling us, and 7 out of 10 callers still felt better one week after calling Samaritans, and 53% of callers felt less lonely or isolated with their feelings. (Markham, T., Forshaw, A. And Sutcliffe, R. (2020) Samaritans Caller Outcomes Study. Birmingham: MEL Research LTD).

Volunteer with us

To find out more information on the volunteer role available within our branch, please visit our volunteering pages. Here you will find lots of information about what it is like to be a Samaritans Volunteer and how to apply to our branch.

Contact us

If you have a general enquiry for our branch, please contact us through our office email and someone will come back to you shortly.

Twitter

Follow us here to keep up-to-date with what we’re doing and share our tweets.

Visitors to the Branch

We're currently unable to support people face-to-face, but you can phone 116 123 or email [email protected] twenty-four hours a day.

Our privacy statement

At Samaritans, privacy is at the heart of what we do. We are committed to protecting your privacy and the personal information that we hold. Read our privacy statement here.