Samaritans And Big Brother 8 Aid Emotional Support In UK And Ireland

Samaritans has joined with Channel 4 and Big Brother 8 in a partnership to back the emotional support provided 24:7 to people in emotional distress. Samaritans' income from Big Brother 8 will depend on viewing figures and the volume of calls from the public as donations will come entirely from viewers' voting. Ten pence from every vote will go to the three charity beneficiaries. Last year the final Big Brother programme alone achieved 7.7 million viewers. Samaritans' 17,000 volunteers take a call for emotional help every six seconds and the charity seeks donations to raise £15 million annually - so Samaritans is always looking at innovative ways to raise money. Samaritans linking with Channel 4 and Big Brother 8 is a natural 'fit'. Samaritans has, over 50 years, developed an expertise in providing emotional support to anyone with any problem causing them anxiety, distress, worry or despair. Samaritans' volunteers have developed 'active listening' and open questioning and an expertise in body language for face to face contact. Samaritans' volunteers are never judgemental; they help someone, perhaps while talking through someone's options, allowing them to come to their own solutions. Big Brother is all about how the housemates 'cope' emotionally, how they interact, how they deal with their own issues as well as each other's and whether they can talk to each other and relate. It's also about whether they can 'get on' and communicate with people like themselves or with people who might be their exact opposites. Samaritans received 5 million contacts last year about all types of issues ranging from money and work worries through relationship problems, bullying, domestic abuse, isolation, loneliness, stress, depression, exam worries, drug and alcohol addictions, self-harm, and calls from people who felt their life was just not worth living any more. Samaritans' service costs £35,000 a day to run - running just one of Samaritans' 202 branches for a day costs just under £200. Samaritans receives 400,000 calls a year from people who say they feel like taking their own lives. After talking to a Samaritans' volunteer, an overwhelming majority choose otherwise. There were 5,554 suicides in UK and Ireland in 2004 - it's not known how many, if any, of those people might have called Samaritans. Each and every one of the issues raised by housemates in all the Big Brothers screened so far will be familiar to Samaritans' volunteers across the UK and Ireland, who will have supported callers, if they were caused anxiety and contacted the charity. Samaritans seeks to reduce suicide and aims to improve emotional health. Anxiety, stress and depression are all on the increase in today's competitive society. Depression related illness will be the world's second biggest killer by the year 20201. During one Big Brother programme: -- Samaritans receives 600 'phone calls - 80% of them being about all types of emotional 'stresses and worries'. Money and work issues generally come top -- Samaritans receives over 50 texts and emails for support -- 19 people in the UK are admitted to hospital for self-harming - but this is just a fraction of those actually self-harming as most don't seek medical help2 -- 1200 people around the world will have tried to take their lives1 In the UK: -- 50% of Britons are more stressed out than five years ago3 -- 12.8 million working days were lost to stress and depression in 2004/54 -- 1 in 5 children has psychological problems5 -- 1 in 10 young people self-harms6 Around the world: -- More people die from suicide than from war or murders1 -- 5 million people have died from suicide since year 20001 -- 121 million people suffer from depression1 1 World Health Organisation 2 Kapur,N,House,A,Creed,F,et al (1998) Management of deliberate self-poisoning in adults in four teaching hospitals:descriptive study British Medical Journal, 316,831 3 Samaritans Stressed Out Survey 2007 4 Labour Force Survey 2004/5 5 I want to be your friend but I don't know how. The Mental Health Foundation (2001) 6 Royal College of Psychiatrists It is the aim of Samaritans to make emotional health a mainstream issue. Samaritans' vision is for a society where fewer people die by suicide because people are able to share feelings of emotional distress openly without fear of being judged. Samaritans believes that offering people the opportunity to be listened to in confidence, and accepted without prejudice, can alleviate despair and suicidal feelings. Samaritans is a registered charity, founded in 1953, which offers 24-hour confidential emotional support to anyone in emotional distress. The service is offered by 17,000 trained volunteers and is entirely dependent on voluntary support. Across the UK, you can call Samaritans on 08457 90 90 90 in the UK (1850 60 90 90 in the Republic of Ireland) for the price of a local call. You can also write to Samaritans at Chris, PO Box 9090, Stirling, FK8 2SA, send an e-mail to jo@samaritans.org or if you are deaf or hard of hearing use the single national minicom number 08457 90 91 92.

(Author: http://www.samaritans.org)

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