Meeting Point Lunch Friday 25th September 2009

Our speakers at the meeting point lunch this month were from Kirkcaldy and District Samaritans. Linda and Eric gave a brief history of Samaritans starting with how the founder Chad Varah began the organisation and explaining how Samartians still aim to achieve their vision of a society where fewer people die by suicide. Samaritans do this by offering confidential emotional support service for anyone in the UK and Ireland. The service is available 24 hours a day for people who are experiencing feelings of distress or despair, including those which may lead to suicide. Carers asked Linda and Eric a lot of questions about topics such as how they remained emotionally healthy when they spend so much time listening to people with sadnesses in their lives. It was interesting to hear that they received comprehensive and obviously effective training to help them to do so. We also learnt that each of the branches of Samaritans is a charity in their own right and that Kirkcaldy and District Samaritans need to raise £30,000 each year to keep going. As with all volunteer organisations Samaritans are interested in recruiting volunteers to help in various roles such as fundraising, publicity and administration as well as being a listening volunteer. We also found out that you can contact Samaritans in a number of different ways now - Samaritan volunteers offer support by responding to phone calls, emails and letters. Alternatively people can drop in to a branch to have a face to face meeting.
Across the UK you can call Samaritans on 08457 90 90 90 for the price of a local call. In the Republic of Ireland call 1850 60 90 90. You can also email Samaritans at jo@samaritans.org, write to Chris, PO Box 9090, Stirling, FK8 2SA or if you are deaf or hard of hearing use the single national minicom number 08457 90 91 92.