Whitstable
Magazine
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The Samaritans A listening voice at times of crisis and despair Local Samaritans took over 14,000 calls in 2013 The Samaritans is best known for its completely confidential telephone service for people in despair and mental distress. The Whitstable area is covered by Canterbury and District branch. Like all Samaritan branches, it is staffed entirely by trained volunteers. Confidentiality is assured when calling, e-mailing or having a face to face meeting with a Samaritan. Callers don’t have to give their name and a caller’s telephone number cannot be seen by the Samaritan volunteer. Calls can’t be recorded. Apart from the costs of calling, the service is free. People call the Samaritans for many reasons - bereavement, personal debts, business failure, redundancy, mental illness, relationship breakdown, family breakup, loneliness, illness, work or study pressures, domestic violence, sexual abuse, racism, homelessness, sexuality issues and workplace bullying are just some of the reasons. All callers are treated with
the same respect, consideration and patience. There is no such thing as a typical caller to the Samaritans. Samaritans understand that what an individual caller is going through is unique to that person. The common denominator is that all callers seek someone to hear them. Someone who’s attention is entirely focussed on them, who won’t judge them or advise them, but just listen with complete focus on the caller. The Samaritans offer no promises and can work no miracles. Their constant hope is that suicidal callers decide not to take their own lives and that those in anguish have found some relief through talking to a Samaritan. The local branch is busier than ever and, in addition to its one to one services, it runs outreach programmes to the area’s huge student population and to prisoners in some of Kent’s jails.
A To contact the
local Samaritans call
08457 90 90 90
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