Find out more about the discontinued ‘Brenda Line’ and how current or former volunteers on the service can share their experiences with us.
About the ‘Brenda line’
The historical so-called ‘Brenda line’ was a separate telephone service run alongside Samaritans core service between the 1970s and 80s.
It was delivered by some female volunteers who were trained to take calls that were seeking sexual gratification. It was developed by the founder of Samaritans in response to a large number of obscene calls being received and in the belief that such callers should still be afforded time.
The line was rightly ended in 1987 but it still represents a challenging part of our organisational history. Samaritans’ policies today are very different and we do not tolerate calls from people seeking to misuse the service.
Today Samaritans considers all calls to the service made by individuals seeking sexual gratification to be wholly unacceptable. It is the case that as we reflect on our history we are of the view that the Brenda Line should not have existed.
We do not invite or tolerate calls of this nature. Our volunteers are trained and supported to recognise and end these calls promptly; often this will be immediate action if it is clear that the caller is misusing our service.
We invite any current or former volunteers who were involved in the ‘Brenda line’ at that time, and who would like to share, in confidence, any reflections on their experience with us, to get in touch. You can email our leadership team: [email protected]