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Volunteering at Samaritans.

Hey,

Has anyone volunteered for Samaritans before? I really want to do it but I am also pretty scared so am not sure what to do. I know they give you training for a long period of time but still I am worried that I may say something wrong while on the phone and I don't know if I will be able to deal with that. What were your experiences with Samaritans? Any advice would be helpful!

Thank you :biggrin:
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Avatar for Juno
Juno
20
You get training, and then you listen to other volunteers make calls, and then you take calls with another more experienced volunteer listening in. So you won't actually be taking calls on your own for over 6 months. They also have "debriefing sessions" afterwards, where you talk to other Samaritans about your calls, and if you have difficult calls you can discuss your feelings and reactions with other volunteers. So if you do have a difficult call there is a lot of support to help you deal with it.

Also, you're not giving advice. You're not going to tell anyone to do anything. So there is less scope to actually say the wrong thing in the first place. You can't make the wrong decision for anyone. You're there to support the callers whilst they make their own decisions.
Original post by Juno
You get training, and then you listen to other volunteers make calls, and then you take calls with another more experienced volunteer listening in. So you won't actually be taking calls on your own for over 6 months. They also have "debriefing sessions" afterwards, where you talk to other Samaritans about your calls, and if you have difficult calls you can discuss your feelings and reactions with other volunteers. So if you do have a difficult call there is a lot of support to help you deal with it.

Also, you're not giving advice. You're not going to tell anyone to do anything. So there is less scope to actually say the wrong thing in the first place. You can't make the wrong decision for anyone. You're there to support the callers whilst they make their own decisions.


I decided to apply for it :smile: thank you for all the information! :biggrin:

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