Get involved with Samaritans Bognor Regis, Chichester & District Branch

Every 90 minutes someone in the UK or Ireland dies by suicide. Every life lost to suicide is a tragedy. These are the 85 volunteers at the Bognor Regis, Chichester & District Branch of Samaritans, who offer a listening ear and a friendly voice to people from all over the UK who are in the depths of despair.

That commitment to being a confidential, non-judgemental listening voice is central to what Samaritans does. But The demands on the service are ever- increasing and the branch is looking to recruit more volunteers to train – volunteers like Annika Small, who first expressed an interest 18 months ago.

She says she has been struck with the professionalism of the charity, the depth of the training and support and the need for the Samaritan’s services. “It’s the best thing I’ve done -I can’t recommend it enough,” she said.

Leon Woods, who trained at the same time as Annika, said being empathetic and non-judgemental were what was needed to be a volunteer rather than any experience of this kind of work.

“You might not feel you have the skill sets but be assured with the training that Samaritans provide you could surprise yourself,” he said.

Annika agreed: “The training is second to none,” she says.

Developing skills

The intensive weekly core training sessions were invaluable she said, and that grounding, combined with the coaching, mentoring and on-the-job support was essential to equip her for the task.

“It is really thoughtful, developing your skills as a listener, helping you realise any unconscious bias, things that might be a trigger for you and it gives you the confidence that you would be able to pick up on key signals during a call,” said Annika.”

Although a quarter of a million people signed up nationally to volunteer at the start of the covid pandemic, there’s a new pandemic happening now, one of despair, loneliness, poverty and incidences of domestic violence is resulting in even more callers contacting switchboards seeking a non-judgemental listening ear.

Many callers are overwhelmed, struggling emotionally and mentally, or are feeling incredibly lonely, or burdened by grief, debt, addictions or any number of external factors. Volunteers speak to them on the phone, or sometimes by email. Listening volunteers are a human voice to someone who is feeling in despair, or sometimes, determined to take their life. At times callers have plans to end their lives because they cannot see a way through their problems. Talking to a Samaritans volunteer can help people find alternative route to coping with how they are feeling - or even just help them to take a first step.

“I got involved because a close family friend was a Samaritan and I wanted to pick up that baton,” Annika said. “I had a desire to make a difference and be part of a movement of ordinary people doing some extra-ordinary and helping each other.”

Leon, 33, who has a young family and is currently a painter and decorator working on building sites, wanted to give something back.

Volunteer for us and help prevent a tragedy

“Every 10 seconds there’s a call from someone wanting help,” he said. “That number is getting higher and higher. That’s why it’s so important to have more volunteers coming into the service.”

Calls made to the helpline can be directed anywhere in the UK. When the call is answered what they will get is someone trained to listen and to support, to help the caller find the resilience to talk through what is overwhelming them and find a route to starting to take back some control.

Annika said in her training group there were people from all sorts of backgrounds and experiences. The average age was around 30 and most of her cohort were men.

She says no two shifts are the same. At first she found it nerve-wracking not knowing what might be coming, but now she looks forward to her shifts.

“It’s a safe space for people to explore their feelings. I had not realised how important that might be and providing that might help people to begin to heal,” she said. “The hardest thing is not giving advice – that’s not what this is about.”

Rewarding work

Leon said the biggest surprise was how much he enjoyed the shifts at the branch – and the overwhelmingly positive feelings of having done something to help others.

“I did not realise how much I would get from helping people,” he said. “Every call is different; every scenario is different. It is nerve-wracking at first but we are all there for the same reason, and the people you meet are not going to be horrible!”

Leon is in the process of changing careers and is studying to be a counsellor, alongside his work and volunteering. He said he would urge anyone to find out more about volunteering. “It means a lot to me to be a Samaritan,” he said.

How does the process work?

Most volunteers will attend an information evening to find out more. There is an application process followed by an interview. Initial core training takes place over a 7-week period and includes online modules with six in person (evening) sessions. Then volunteers start joining shifts and listening in on calls, before starting to take calls themselves, supervised by a mentor who is an experienced volunteer.

New recruits spend six months ‘embedding’ into the role, where they receive the additional training tools, resources and services they need to look after their own well-being, build residence and support others.

At the end of every shift – and shifts are about three hours long – there is some ‘downloading’ time, where volunteers discuss the calls they’ve had with an experienced colleague – this is ongoing, beyond the six month period. After difficult calls it could be followed up with further discussions the next day, or whatever is needed.

Find out more

To find out more about volunteering, fundraising or the work of Bognor Regis, Chichester & Bognor Regis Branch of Samaritans visit the website here.

To find out more about volunteering at the branch click here.

Samaritans can be contacted by telephone 116 123 and calls to this number are free from any phone. Samaritans can also be contacted via email at [email protected]