Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
LISTENING FOR CRIES OF DESPAIR
Highlighting the vital work of Samaritans
When Lanarkshire Samaritans volunteer Margaret puts the phone down after a call from someone in despair, she will know their woes, their struggles, their feelings of hopelessness and isolation, and perhaps even their first name.
What she will never know, though, is the next chapter in their story, or how the episode in which she was invited to play She’ll a part finish will her end. shift at the
Lanarkshire branch and go home, never to know whether her simple act of listening might have pulled that person on the end of the phone back from the brink.
But that’s okay. Because the exemplary training delivered to
Margaret and other Samaritans volunteers like her ensures that she won’t be carrying such a burden home.
Margaret has been involved with the
Samaritans for 37 years. Last Friday
was also selfless Samaritans known volunteer as the Awareness told Big Listen, the Advertiser Day, and the what led her to get involved with the much-loved charity.
“I volunteered for a very selfish reason many years ago,” explained the 64-year-old.
“It was 1982. I was aged 25 and broke my ankle very badly and couldn’t get out and do the things someone in their 20s would normally do. I needed something to occupy me, something I could do while just sitting there on my own.
“The training back then was very much like the training volunteers receive today, except we didn’t have the technology. “Even back then, I realised how much support I would get in joining this organisation.” Margaret is like any ordinary
Lanarkshire woman of her age, looking forward to retiring from her full-time job in a large energy firm’s contact centre, where the calls she takes come from householders whose boilers are broken and in need of repair.
But what she does when she steps into the Samaritans’ Lanarkshire branch in Selkirk Place in Hamilton is far from ordinary. It’s there Margaret takes calls from lost souls, many of whom are broken and feel they can never be mended and put back together.
Calls from any part of the UK can filter through to that humble office behind a green door, day or night, from people in crisis who can be at their lowest ebb and have dialled 116 123 to share their troubles with a perfect stranger.
“I don’t think you have to be a particular type of person to be a Samaritans volunteer,” explained
Margaret.
“You don’t need to have a particular faith – but you do need to have faith in the organisation. “The Lanarkshire branch is very fortunate to have the people we have, and that’s true of all of Scotland.
“They come from all different walks of life, but share one common ideal: they want to see a reduction in instances of suicide.
“You can’t make people’s minds up for them. It’s for people to speak to us when they need us, not for us to speak to them. You need to be nonjudgemental and always keep your
listening skills on.
“When people call, they can be speaking to anyone, anywhere in Great
Britain, and all Samaritans have been trained to the same high standard.
“No-one has their own Samaritan to phone. That wouldn’t be encouraged.”
Covid-19 has brought with it all kinds of challenges for many people, not least those who struggle with their emotional health.
“I would say calls are steady, it’s always busy,” continued Margaret, “but people do mention coronavirus when they call because, if they have another anxiety and something else going on in their lives, this can be terrible. “Many people now have emotional problems – more so than before.
“The beauty of the Samaritans and other organisations is we are encouraging people to open up more, as we have always done. “While it is not good that people have emotional health problems, it is good that the message is out there.
“As with most things in life, what can be a big problem to one person can be a tiny thing to somebody else. It is great
You can’t make people’s minds up for them. It’s for people to speak to us when they need us, not for us to speak to them. You need to be non-judgemental and always keep your listening skills on
to see other organisations, television and celebrities encouraging people to open up.”
Even throughout the pandemic, volunteers at the Lanarkshire branch – and at 200 others across the UK – have continued to turn up for their shift, albeit in reduced numbers with social distancing and other measures to ensure volunteers remain safe.
Samaritans’ strict confidentiality policies mean that even during lockdown, calls cannot be taken at a volunteer’s home.
This ensures that volunteers who are handling calls and lending a listening ear to someone who can often be in a harrowing situation will always have support from their fellow team members.
This support, and robust training, ensures that they never need to feel overwhelmed.
“When you put the phone down, you do not immediately lift the receiver again and take the next call,” explained Margaret.
“Human nature doesn’t work like that. A great thing that we have in the branch is that you can talk to someone about anything that has been worrying you.
“If in two hours’ time something is playing about in your head, there’s a team of people you can phone when you leave shift.”
That support network, and the unstinting backing volunteer Margaret receives at home from her husband, also helps her to stay grounded – particularly after ending a Samaritans night shift at 2am.
“Being a Samaritans volunteer has just become very much a part of my everyday life. It’s just something I do and I do not find it a chore,” continued Margaret, who intends to continue volunteering long after she retires from her day job.
“It is not healthy to do more than four hours a week. It has to a part of your life, not to be your life.
“I have a big family. They are not one bit interested in me being a Samaritan because I’ve been doing it for so long.
“Yes, when I meet someone new, they might ask about it. But it’s not something I take home with me.”
Becoming a Samaritans volunteer needn’t automatically mean you have to listen.
The charity depends on other people donating their time by assisting with other endeavours such as technology support, fundraising, publicity and leaflet distribution.
“Normally at this time, we would be gearing up to be involved at the annual Strathaven Balloon Festival, where we take a table, talk to people about what we do and hand out leaflets,” Margaret explained.
“Not only are these events good for people coming to speak to us, they are also a good introduction to people who are interested in helping and fundraising for us.
“We need funds to run the branch and with the pandemic, we are losing out on that now.
“We need people to show an interest in what we do, and we need people to join us – a variety of people.
“So please go online and get information.”
Volunteers also raise awareness of the Samaritans’ vital work by speaking to community groups.
When the Wishaw area was rocked two years ago by a spate of suicides among young men, the Samaritans’ presence in that devastated community was very visible, with volunteers giving talks to schoolchildren and young people.
“Suicide in young men has always been there and, while it is terrible, it is getting highlighted more and more and that can only be a good thing,” said Margaret.
She added: “When you put the phone down or the caller ends the call, you will not know what happens – how the story or situation unfolds – and you spend a lot of time training with Samaritans to enable you to cope with this.
“We would like it to be known that you don’t have to be suicidal to call the Samaritans. We speak to everyone. It is better to speak to us before you get to that point.”