David's story

David started volunteering 12 years ago in Doncaster and continued his journey as a volunteer even after moving to the remote West Highlands of Scotland seven years ago.

“I first began volunteering at the Doncaster branch 12 years ago. I wanted to be a listening volunteer years ago originally. I met a friend the pub one evening and he was a bit late – he said he’d been ‘doing his shift’. I thought he meant work, but he was a Samaritans volunteer. When my friend shared more about what he did with Samaritans, I thought it was brilliant and felt it was something I could get involved in too.

“I went to the information evening at the Doncaster branch of Samaritans. I was the first person there and put the kettle on for everyone. The branch director said he knew I’d make a good Samaritan because I was instantly making brews for everyone! Throughout my 12 years, I’ve done various roles within the branch – I was deputy for outreach and supported training.

“I was born in Darlington and my Dad worked in the steel industry, so we moved to South Yorkshire when I was growing up. It’s a very different community and I miss that part of the world sometimes. I moved to Scotland seven years ago and stayed as a volunteer at the Doncaster branch, as I was in Doncaster frequently visiting family and I’d block book shifts in advance. Now I’m hoping to be volunteering for the email service.

“Giving people the gift of a listening ear is something that’s undervalued. If I’m chatting to friends and they begin opening up, I might ask a few questions and sit back to listen – we’re often quick to jump in with advice or give opinions. There is space for that, but there’s also space to simply say: tell me about that.”

“Where I live, I have to get a ferry to my house. It’s a small peninsula on the mainland but there isn’t a road to get to it - the mountains block us off. You have to either walk, which is about 18m, or you park and get the ferry over. There’s about four houses at the end of my road.

“I think the mental health of rural communities is so important and making it known they can talk about what they might be going through. It’s such a prevalent issue and not talked about at all. Living in such a rural location myself, I understand some of the issues first-hand – being so remote and feeling isolated. As a Samaritans volunteer, I also have the other perspective about the benefits of talking and how that can be beneficial. I find it so busy when I go back now! Even going into a tiny town, I find very busy now that I live so remotely.

“Over the last two years, I took on the challenge of visiting every one of the 201 Samaritans branches across the UK and Ireland, to raise funds and awareness for Samaritans, and to profile mental health issues. I ended up walking over 6,000 miles in total.

“I kept doing shifts as I walked at each branch. It’s been great to keep that going as I’ve been across the country – it’s a testament to the experience of volunteers across the country and how uniform it can be that I could just slot into branches along the way. It’s been a marvellous experience.”