Conference govt02::basingstoke

284.0. "SAMARITANS" by TASTY::SAMARITANS () Fri Apr 06 1990 20:21

    EVERY TWO HOURS SOMEONE ACTUALLY ENDS HIS OR HER LIFE IN THE UK.
    
    Every year suicide claims over 4000 lives, and the number is rising.
    
    This year 200,000 people will attempt to take their lives, many of
    them young people.
    
    Suicide is the 3rd highest cause of death in young people.
    
    In 1985 416 deaths by suicide were recorded for this age group in
    England and Wales.
    
    Every day someone under 15 years old commits suicide in this country.
    
    Over the last ten years, the number for young people has increased by
    24 percent, and accounts for 9 percent of all suicides.
    
    To many people the Samaritans represent a lifeline.   Suicide is one
    of the biggest killers in this country today.   Since 1975, the
    suicide rate has been rising, particularly among the young, and the
    work of the Samaritans, begun more than 30 years ago, is increasing in
    importance by the hour.
    
    Such figures can be baffling to anybody who walks down Wote Street, or
    mingles with the crowds in Basingstoke Shopping Centre on a Saturday
    without being able to identify one person who might be thought to be
    on the verge of suicide.  According to national statistics, the
    suicidal don't just say "I can't go on", or "What is the point of
    living?".
    
    The Samaritan Centre in Essex Road, Basingstoke is a constant hive of
    activity with the telephones ringing throughout the morning, the
    afternoon and particularly at night.     Within the Basingstoke and
    surrounding communities it is often in the evening and during the
    night that the despairing, suicidal and lonely feel a special need to
    call the Samaritans on their emergency number Basingstoke 462333.
    
    The Victorian house with its ordinary front door and old-fashioned
    windows often hides a frenzy of activity when its three telephones are
    simultaneously engaged.   The Samaritans on duty have one common aim -
    to make friends of the friendless and to lend a sympathetic ear to the
    anguish of the stranger at the other end of the line.   Frequently the
    caller is persuaded to come to the centre in Essex Road to spend an
    hour or so in the comfort of an armchair on one of the interviewing
    rooms where a face-to-face chat can be conducted in an atmosphere of
    confidentiality and intimacy.
    
    The Samaritan may the the only person to have spoken a kind word to
    the stranger across the room.  Yet the scene is a beginning, for in
    the months to come, other volunteers, as the Samaritans are known,
    will get to know the caller both on the telephone and in person, and
    it is by consistently showing an interest that the Samaritans are able
    to do their most effective work.
    
    Last year the Basingstoke centre handled more than 11,000 calls.
    Nearly 2,000 were from first time callers, among them nearly 500 from
    people who threatened or admitted have attempted suicide.   At present
    the branch is coping with about 100 men and women from all walks of
    life who devote at least 14 hours a month to doing shifts between 2
    and 4 hours at any one time.
    
    If you are interest in finding out more about the Samaritan movement
    please contact the Director at 5 Essex Road Basingstoke, or phone
    Basingstoke 462333.