Samaritans experiences? Bit disturbed

[Shy_pretty_Angela]

So yesterday I phoned the Samaritans. First time in years. I felt really alone and had been feeling that I needed to connect .
My experience was good. Spoke to a nice lady who engaged with me and even offered some advice on forums etc.
The thing is, afterwards, I googled reviews and read some really negative ones on the web...in fact all were negative saying that they block you after a certain amount of calls and that its not confidential and they can get your phone number!
Now this has worried me because I will be having treatment over the next few months which may make me enotional or in need of an ear to listen.

I really feel like in todays society a lot of people think of Sams as a compassionate and non judgemental organisation but Ive been put off.

I know that many of you must have used the service. Is there any light you can shed on this whole getting barred thing and if so what happened?
Also what about CALM?

[Aelwyn]

There's a lot of info on their website. Here is a link to their privacy policy.

https://www.samaritans.org/about-sam...arding-policy/ It doesn't seem unreasonable.

You could phone and ask them how often you could call.

I don't know about CALM, but there are lots of meditations and relaxation exercises available online, there would be no harm in trying a few.

[Laurel]

that is surprising, a 1.8 rating on trustpilot. I think people might have huge expectations that Samaritans might provide a magical cure with the perfect empathic human. Would imagine it's an incredibly tough job and not all calls will be able to be answered all the time.

[biscuits]

Hi Angela, I’d go by your own positive experience of calling them

Here are some other helplines:

https://www.mind.org.uk/information-...ning-services/


Also do you think you might interested in a Macmillan Buddy that calls you each week? This is something I came across:
https://www.macmillan.org.uk/cancer-...millan-buddies

[Dougella]

^ Isn't it the case that the Samaritans are there simply to listen? They're not really meant to offer callers any solutions or fixes or advice. That's what I had heard was the case anyway. But people call when they are desperate or in crisis so ofcourse they are in all sorts of emotional states, I'm sure the volunteers are prepared for that.

[Percy]

My great aunt was a samaritans call handler and her experience was much the same as yours Devil.

I've used them on occasion and found them to mostly be very helpful.

[Shy_pretty_Angela]

Yes I think you are right Devil. I mean its just surprising I suppose to learn these things.

It takes a bit of courage to call any of these helplines I find but I do remember feeling a bit frustrated years ago by the just listening approach. I think most people will want some kind of input into their situation.
When you say you were good at it did you enjoy it? It must be a diffucult thing to do?

[Mr. Nobody]

Most of the therapy sessions I've been to were more or less someone just listening, so I don't think samaritans are doing anything wrong in that sense,
Most are volunteers, not trained psychiatrists or anything, so there's only so much you can expect.

Trouble would also be that it's terribly complicated to offer any direct advice to someone on the end of a phone line as you aren't getting the full picture of that person and all the nuances and complications of their lives,
So, I imagine that giving concrete advice is probably frowned upon as it would be fraught with dangers of things being taken in the wrong way or contexts being different than imagined and all sorts of things.

[biscuits]

Originally Posted by The Devil, Probably.

I know becuase I used to work as a volunteer. I was pretty good at it. No one ever phoned back. (That's a Red Dwarf joke).

.

Good on ya! I signed up to volunteer once. One of my old school friends messaged me to say he saw my name on the volunteer list. When he messaged me, I suddenly freaked out because the thought of someone there knowing me made me panic and I couldn't go through with it. It was a shame really because he was really nice and wouldn't have been bothered about my mental health issues that I was so embarrassed about him finding out about at the time. Obviously he was was volunteering for a mental health charity. Hindsight and all that!

[Shy_pretty_Angela]

I think it must be very difficult to do that job but I hope maybe I could do that when my health and mobility improves.
I hope so

[limey123]

I phoned them once in my mid-20s and the guy was very unsympathetic and basically told me to "grow a thicker skin".

[Percy]

Not good Limey

[biscuits]

Originally Posted by The Devil, Probably.

Just to be clear, I didn't work as a volunteer. It was a joke. People not phoning back because of being so bad at it they'd killed themselves, etc. I have phone anxiety so could not work in such an environment.

Ohhh!

Well, you're going to have to do three good deeds this week to cancel this out.

[biscuits]

Originally Posted by limey123

I phoned them once in my mid-20s and the guy was very unsympathetic and basically told me to "grow a thicker skin".

Oh this is awful. I've had similar things said to me (not by the Samaritans) - it's really damaging to have that thought popped into your head.

It made me feel really ashamed and contributed to me feeling like I shouldn't talk about my mental health. Did it have a similar effect on you?

Luckily, I eventually found support that encouraged me to be open and these days I just blurt it out to anyone.

[Shy_pretty_Angela]

I think everyone needs support and someone to be there for them and I feel very strongly about that!
It seems odd to me that the Samaritans would block someonr for calling too many times unless they were abusive in.some way but just needing to chat seems really harsh!
I am doing bible study with someone who visits from the church and we were talking today about low self esteem

[Mr. Nobody]

^
I think that policy rule has probably only stemmed from a minority of characters that have possibly manipulated or compromised volunteers time on the switchboard?
You do get some very needy manipulative people who will perhaps nuisance call frequently, or just keep pestering the volunteers, thinking that they will only ever have to say "yes" to it.
I think it's only fitting that an organisation as big and as important as samaritans lays out some boundary rules for the good of everyone involved
If the same nuisance callers are hogging the switchboard, that means that a genuine caller can't get through?
I'm sure it's not a rule that they implement lightly and is only used in certain rare cases.

[Shy_pretty_Angela]

Yes I can imagine that actually! I shpuldnt worry Im not one of those!