Help is at hand with Samaritans in Telford

The railings look freshly painted and the gravel forecourt is particularly tidy, but from the outside it looks like pretty much like all the other terraced houses near the railway line.

However, to thousands of people who use its services every year, this unassuming building in Wellington's King Street is a lifeline – and in many cases a lifesaver.

Samaritans in Telford celebrates its 40th birthday this year, and according to director Brian Allaway, around 20,000 people seek its help every year, with more than 2,000 expressing suicidal feelings.

• It’s easy to contact the Samaritans. Most towns have branches and volunteers are always at the end of the phone

• Phone: 08457 909090, (01952) 256161 or (01743) 369696

• Text: 07725 909090

• Email: jo@samaritans.org

• Online: www.samaritans.org

"Phone calls are still the main way that people get in touch with us," says the former teacher, who has headed Telford's 60-strong team of volunteers for the past three years.

"We offer face-to-face support to anyone who calls in during our opening hours, although we don't get as many people coming in as we used to," says Brian, who shows us one of two informal meeting rooms in the Tardis-like base.

"I think, in the past people would call us from a phone box, and then they would walk down the road to come in and see us.

"These days, with mobile phones, people find it easier to talk to somebody over the phone."

Samaritans was founded in 1953 by the Reverend Chad Varah in the crypt of St Stephen Walbrook's Church in the City of London.

Today somebody contacts Samaritans every six seconds. The charity which began as one man in one room with one phone has grown into a service delivered by 20,980 volunteers in 201 branches across the UK and Republic of Ireland.

Brian, who first became a volunteer 10 years ago, says one real area of change over the past few years has been the number of people contacting the service by text or email.

"This branch started taking text messages a year ago, and in that time we have received around 2,000 of them," he says.

"We received 2,420 emails, and that has been increasing, I would say, by around 10 per cent a year.

"The thing is with emails is that people can write down what they want to say, and they can play around with it until they are happy, and then they can send it in.

"We try to answer emails within 24 hours, but with text messages we can sometimes do it straight away, it depends on how many we have in at the time."

Perhaps surprisingly, the busiest time of the day is during the early hours of the morning.

"That is often the time when people are on their own, and we are the only agency available at three in the morning," says Brian.

Last year, Samaritans in Telford handled 19,886 calls, although not all of these will be from within the Telford area.

"We have seen an increase in recent years," he says.

"People are calling about financial concerns, health considerations, a lack of mental health support in the community, I would say there has been an increase in the number of calls about all those problems in the past 10 years," says Brian.

"People turn to us when life becomes difficult, when stress becomes distress, and for some people that becomes so bad that they become suicidal.

"One of the things we have been emphasising in the past few years is that you don't have to be suicidal to call Samaritans," says Brian.

"We are very keen that people talk with us before life becomes that bleak for them.

"People don't have to be suicidal before they contact us.

"We visit schools, talk to organisations, work in prisons and make ourselves available at pop festivals," says Brian.

Brian stresses that every conversation with Samaritans is completely private – even from the forces of law and order.

"We never disclose anything to the police, unless there is a court order, so people know they can tell us whatever they want," he says.

Brian, whose term as director ends next month, says it has been a rewarding three years, thanks in no small part to the dedicated team of volunteers who freely give their time to help others.