A Samaritans values are based upon very caring beliefs, they believe that a person should be listened to without any type of prejudice of any type. Or the decision on ones own life.
The Samaritans give emotional support in any areas of emotional distress, and whenever someone calls the help line, all calls are taken with strict confidentiality and none of the calls with be recorded (Only some calls with be partially recorded for volunteer training, or in some serious cases, federal evidence if a person threatens or attacks a volunteer or takes his/her own life). The Samaritans keep confidentiality even after the death of a caller.
All callers are accepted without any prejudice or bias opinions, a Samaritan acknowledges their emotions and try to find a reasonable option to relieve callers of their despair. Since there isn’t any prejudice in the Samaritan, no volunteer is allowed to impose their convictions, opinions, religious, or philosophical beliefs because many different people from many different cultures will be calling this international help line. Each volunteer is specially trained and are subject to a police record (expect Ireland).
The Samaritans get many callers a year, in 2003 more than 4,800,000 people contacted the Samaritans by use of Phone (The most common method at 93%), Email (38%), Letters, and Face to Face conversation at a branch. More Men call the Samaritans than Woman, 52% were male and 45% were female. The majority of the volunteers were woman more than 62%, due to the nature of the calls, callers feel more comfortable when a woman speaks to them through the telephone.
All the workers at the Samaritans are purely voluntary and are dependant on those who give their spare time to help those in emotional distress. Being a Samaritan is a very tough, but a very rewarding job. By becoming a volunteer you are giving up your spare time to help those who are less fortunate than yourself, you are contributing something to society. And this feeling can be very rewarding. And at the end of the day your hard work will be noticed by employers and people who are close to you.
If you do not believe you are able to work as a volunteer due to the nature of the calls, you can become a fund raiser; a fund raiser is a person that donates money to a company to keep that particular service going. There are various events and activities that can help raise money for the Samaritans. Some people run marathons to raise money for the Samaritans. It is amazing how people will sacrifice so much to help those who are less fortunate than they are.
