[Anonymous]

so i rang the samaritans because i was feeling depressed. it says on their site they do a callback service, so i asked, and the lady was not happy or welcoming about it at all ''Why do you want a callback- don't you have credit?'' but the way she said it was very annoyed that i'd asked!

then when i was talking she was going ''mhmm'' literally every second to the point it sounded far to rehearsed. Then i was crying loads and she clearly didnt care. The things I was telling her that were really important to me she told me ''i dont want to sound rude or mean to upset you but 'x' is not as important as you think it is''. I told her i was feeling suicidal, she didnt even ask about it, she just asked me what id got planned this week!

Then, to top it off- she said she had to hang up because they had made the call and she had to cut it short!!! I couldnt believe it!

I wouldnt mind, but this is the 2nd time I have used the Samaritans and both times have been bad experiences. The first time I called was about a year ago and the lady was talkin to someone else in the background!

Has anyone else had an experience? good or bad?

[bullettheory]

I've used the Samaritans a lot and I've had some mixed experiences. Sometimes I felt it hasn't helped, but usually I think they have helped me and I feel lucky that we have access to such a charity. Sorry your experience was less than ideal, some of the people at Samaritans aren't great, but there are a lot of good people.


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

[Anonymous]

I used them quite a few times last year.

They were amazing and I think they saved my life.

Try calling again, you might get a better one?

[shuttermagic]

Hi, sorry to hear you had a bad experience with Samaritans,
I can imagine that cant have been helpful at all.

There is a section on the Samaritans website where you can leave complaints which could be worth doing?

http://www.samaritans.org/talk_to_so...tionnaire.aspx

xx

[Anonymous]

(Original post by shuttermagic)
Hi, sorry to hear you had a bad experience with Samaritans,
I can imagine that cant have been helpful at all.

There is a section on the Samaritans website where you can leave complaints which could be worth doing?

http://www.samaritans.org/talk_to_so...tionnaire.aspx

xx

I dont really want to complain as they keep your records on detail. but its been twice now so am not really happy. They weren't very sympathetic.

I also had a friend who told me they'd called them before and they were rude to them on the phone and the man on the other end started shouting at my friend! Like even if my friend was doing something wrong the man should have followed the policy which Im guessing is ''I'm sorry but the Samaritans can't take this call'' and hung up, not verbally abused him back

[shuttermagic]

(Original post by Anonymous)
I dont really want to complain as they keep your records on detail. but its been twice now so am not really happy. They weren't very sympathetic.

I also had a friend who told me they'd called them before and they were rude to them on the phone and the man on the other end started shouting at my friend! Like even if my friend was doing something wrong the man should have followed the policy which Im guessing is ''I'm sorry but the Samaritans can't take this call'' and hung up, not verbally abused him back

That Sounds quite bad, I guess it just depends who you get and how they're feeling then? which is really unfortunate as so many people phone samaritans as a way to get some immediate help. I guess it also doesn't make much sense as the phones are operated by trained volunteers, so why volunteer if you cant be patient and keep calm or be empathetic.

Hopefully if you decide to use them again it wont be bad.
xx

[Natasha_321]

Ah..not very nice.. Maybe a trainee or something? But people always have up and down experiences with counsellors..I gues that just really sucks
Why not try ChildLine or something, deals with a range of issues, it's rules to be 18 or under & the online community is really supportive.
..i still suggest calling again..maybe they have a mssg board you can write on or email to write in?
Hope this helps!

[Anonymous]

(Original post by Natasha_321)
Ah..not very nice.. Maybe a trainee or something? But people always have up and down experiences with counsellors..I gues that just really sucks
Why not try ChildLine or something, deals with a range of issues, it's rules to be 18 or under & the online community is really supportive.
..i still suggest calling again..maybe they have a mssg board you can write on or email to write in?
Hope this helps!

thanks i wouldnt try childline because im not a child lol but also they dont even have enough volunteers for the children that really need help so i dont want to jam their phone lines

[Anonymous]

(Original post by Anonymous)
so i rang the samaritans because i was feeling depressed. it says on their site they do a callback service, so i asked, and the lady was not happy or welcoming about it at all ''Why do you want a callback- don't you have credit?'' but the way she said it was very annoyed that i'd asked!

then when i was talking she was going ''mhmm'' literally every second to the point it sounded far to rehearsed. Then i was crying loads and she clearly didnt care. The things I was telling her that were really important to me she told me ''i dont want to sound rude or mean to upset you but 'x' is not as important as you think it is''. I told her i was feeling suicidal, she didnt even ask about it, she just asked me what id got planned this week!

Then, to top it off- she said she had to hang up because they had made the call and she had to cut it short!!! I couldnt believe it!

I wouldnt mind, but this is the 2nd time I have used the Samaritans and both times have been bad experiences. The first time I called was about a year ago and the lady was talkin to someone else in the background!

Has anyone else had an experience? good or bad?

I volunteer for the Nightline (a student run listening service) at my university and have received training from our local Samaritans branch. It takes a lot of courage to make a call like this, so well done for doing so twice

The Samaritans really do offer a good service, but, as someone has mentioned previously, it does depend on who you get. For example, you may have ended up getting a more inexperienced volunteer on the two occasions that you called. You may also find that the Samaritans style doesn't suit your needs. There are other organisations you could try if needs be.

Trying a different form of listening could help; perhaps try something other than phone calls. The Samaritans run email and texting services in addition to their phone service. A lot of places even run instant messaging services now, like on Compassion Pit (although remember that most of the listeners on there won't have had any kind of training).

Hope some of this helps. Sorry to hear that you've had a bad experience, as someone else said earlier if you submit a complaint you can help them to improve the service for future users

[shybrowngirl]

(Original post by Anonymous)
so i rang the samaritans because i was feeling depressed. it says on their site they do a callback service, so i asked, and the lady was not happy or welcoming about it at all ''Why do you want a callback- don't you have credit?'' but the way she said it was very annoyed that i'd asked!

then when i was talking she was going ''mhmm'' literally every second to the point it sounded far to rehearsed. Then i was crying loads and she clearly didnt care. The things I was telling her that were really important to me she told me ''i dont want to sound rude or mean to upset you but 'x' is not as important as you think it is''. I told her i was feeling suicidal, she didnt even ask about it, she just asked me what id got planned this week!

Then, to top it off- she said she had to hang up because they had made the call and she had to cut it short!!! I couldnt believe it!

I wouldnt mind, but this is the 2nd time I have used the Samaritans and both times have been bad experiences. The first time I called was about a year ago and the lady was talkin to someone else in the background!

Has anyone else had an experience? good or bad?

hi, sorry to hear about your experience with them and your situation.

Do you remember the lady's name? Perhaps you can complain about her attitude. They meant to help you, not to make you feel discomfort.

[hannah_dru]

(Original post by Anonymous)
then when i was talking she was going ''mhmm'' literally every second to the point it sounded far to rehearsed. Then i was crying loads and she clearly didnt care. The things I was telling her that were really important to me she told me ''i dont want to sound rude or mean to upset you but 'x' is not as important as you think it is''. I told her i was feeling suicidal, she didnt even ask about it, she just asked me what id got planned this week!

They can't give advice so maybe she was trying to offer a sympathetic ear but not being very good about it.
It could also be that she was trying to change your perspective there, I don't know.

Not defending them in any way by saying this as I wasn't there. Maybe try e-mailing, I've emailed before (am e-mailing at the moment actually) and they've been great.

[Whowhatwhere]

They're ok. I can't talk to the men. I'm sorry but I find it too hard to.
The people are nice, and they listen, but that's it. I guess it's really relieving at the same time.

[Anonymous]

(Original post by hannah_dru)
They can't give advice so maybe she was trying to offer a sympathetic ear but not being very good about it.
It could also be that she was trying to change your perspective there, I don't know.

Not defending them in any way by saying this as I wasn't there. Maybe try e-mailing, I've emailed before (am e-mailing at the moment actually) and they've been great.

I wouldnt have minded if she did just listen (I work for Nightline myself) and so i appreciate just a listening ear, but when she said she had to hang up I just think thats disgusting.

[08batee]

I'm sorry you had such a bad experience!
I've used them before, and whilst they haven't been rude, I just don't find it helpful to tell some random person my problems. But that's just me.
If you ever need to chat about anything, feel free to PM me

[hannah_dru]

(Original post by Anonymous)
I wouldnt have minded if she did just listen (I work for Nightline myself) and so i appreciate just a listening ear, but when she said she had to hang up I just think thats disgusting.

Yeah I definitely agree there.

[ViceVersa]

I've used them through suggestion by a TSRian once Didn't find them to be overly amazing tbh, but they tried a lot to be comforting and understanding and was a good distraction

[daisydaffodil]

It depends very much on who you spoke to me. I spoke to a lovely man once called Robert, called him in complete hysterics at 3am and he just spoke to me until I was calm and had stopped crying. Didn't tell me to do anything, just asked what my name was and what was happening at that minute. No advice but by asking me simple things: "What time is it? What's the weather like? Oh we've had rain" etc, it calmed me down enough that I was able to go to sleep..

The email service, I hated - I tried it a few times when I had not long began uni, you could tell that the person emailing was changing by how they spoke.

Childline on the other hand in my first week of uni, I couldn't thank enough - I ended up speaking to someone on the 1/2/1 messenger service (I was only 2 months over 18) and they were lovely.

My mum phoned them in 1991, not long after I was born. She couldn't get me to stop screaming (I had an at the time undiagnosed illness and was always crying). She took me in the pram to the neighbours and asked her for help, to take me for five mins or something, the neighbour refused. She went home and phoned Samaritans, explained the situation. Her NEIGHBOUR then replied, stammering, that the Samaritans weren't there for that and perhaps she ought to contact the health visitor. My mum, realising it was the neighbour, hung up in a panic! Mad - and probably why it's all based in call centres/offices now.