A message from Samaritans
Over the Summer months Liverpool and Merseyside Samaritans have been adapting to the pressures brought on by Covid-19 and responding to an increased demand from our callers. As you might expect many people are anxious and worried for whole number of reasons as they face problems caused or exacerbated by the strange times in which we live. Samaritans role is to be there to support anyone who needs us and to maintain confidentiality, be non-judgmental and to help people come to their own decisions. We do this by listening and giving people time to talk about their feelings.
Our outreach activities have been curtailed by the restrictions of Covid and by the need to keep our callers and volunteers safe. This has meant we have not been able to engage in face to face calls, visit Liverpool Prison, give presentations, assist National and Merseyrail and to engage in public fundraising activities. In spite of this we have achieved a national first for Samaritans by working in partnership with Aintree NHS Trust we have installed a direct line and phone booth in the A&E Department which is available to patients, relatives and staff and anyone at the hospital who needs us. Other hospitals are likely to follow.
We cannot operate without our dedicated volunteers who man the phones day and night. Numbers of active volunteers have reduced because of volunteers who have had to self-isolate and we have been hampered by being unable to train new volunteers. Thankfully training has now resumed and is being conducted wholly at a distance. This is partly by on line modules supplemented by Zoom training sessions and practice calls and emails. The training is very thorough comprising of 5 detailed on line modules interspersed with five or six three hour Zoom sessions which are normally split in two because of their intensity. Having completed the course the new volunteer is accompanied by a mentor on their first live telephone duties and then becomes a probationer until another course of training is completed.
Training takes a lot of time but is essential. New volunteers come from all walks of life and find the experience rewarding. Personally, I would have found training useful when I was in practice, as many of our listening skills and the ability to talk about difficult subjects, would be of interest to a lawyer at any stage of their career. The timetable for duties is designed to be as flexible as possible and to allow those with full time jobs to choose duty times to suit their personal timetable.
We want to support all members of the legal profession on Merseyside, your staff and your clients whatever you are going through in these very unusual circumstances. If you would like to discuss any aspect of what we do feel free to e-mail me and I will get back to you as soon as I can.
We are trying to create an income stream by encouraging small regular donations of £10 or £20 per month, though bigger donations are always welcome! I know that time are hard but if you could make a small donation either as an individual or as a firm it would help us keep the phone lines open. If you would like to support Liverpool and Merseyside Samaritans donations can be made via our Virgin Money account here
Samaritans is open 24 hours a day 365 days a year. Our free phone number is 116 123 and our email address is jo@samaritans.org
Tony Summers
Deputy Director and Trustee
Tony1@Liverpool-samaritans.org
29th September 2020