Samaritans Reviews 

Spoke to Martin (Nottingham) who was calming and supportive though I do think they should be trained not to ask "what should you do?" ... if I knew what to do I'd do it! It's a bit hit and miss who you get but this guy helped. I've had someone advise me before when I had self harmed to have a hot drink!

I needed some support a little while a go after I began to feel depressed .I felt much happier after talking to them

I'd Never Ring The Samaritans Again Spoke To A Guy Called Stuart (I Think) The Next Minute He Fobbed Me Off To Speak To Someone Else (Another Caller) From The Advise Of His Colleague Shame On You Both And The Samaritans AVOID Like The Plague People!!!

How could anyone slate the work of these angels. Thsy helped me (east kent area) to no end. She was as anngel at my time of nneed to 5am in the morning. What an amazing woman. God bless you

I was on hold with them for 7 minutes then they said I was going to be connected with an agent. They said I was about to connect with an agent and then they hung up the phone on me after 5 minutes of silence and nobody on the other end. I called back to complain about this and nobody believed me. I ended up SHing due to this and when I tried to ring them back up today I found out I've been banned from the service for 3 months.

I applied for a volunteer role with Samaritans, but my experience was deeply disappointing. My application was ignored for 15 months until I sent a reminder email. Eventually, I was told that my physical disability disqualified me because I couldn’t do night shifts—this was after they had already invited me for an interview.

The entire process felt disorganized and unprofessional. The staff lacked basic interviewing skills, and the questions seemed designed to assess how easily someone could be manipulated rather than genuinely exploring suitability for the role.

After reading similar reviews, my experience was, sadly, no surprise. If you're seeking help, I’d strongly recommend looking for an organization with trained and professional staff. Trusting this one could be a mistake.

I would not like to be associated with Samaritans.

Samaritans real life heroes
Samaritans have been there for me at my lowest times and given me the support and the time that I needed. I think what they do and the service that they provide as VOLUNTEERS is nothing short of remarkable. Without their support I am confident that I would have not made it through the night. Thank you to those who give their time to support people in need. You are all Angels.

I can be silent no longer on this subject. Please be mindful & aware that Samaritans are exploiting & abusing vulnerable individuals. By making them go through a series of intrusive questions about their personal lives. When they don’t get the answers they want, they become abusive, aggressive & arrogant towards vulnerable people. This leads me to believe that they are secretly working undercover for the DWP. Only the DWP would be asking questions about your personal day to day care not some random unqualified person on the phone who claims to be a volunteer. You feel like when you come on the phone that you’re being interrogated. It’s a horrible experience not being able to trust someone especially in a mental health crisis. The advisors don’t have any empathy at all. It’s a case of oh why can’t you this or why can’t you do that. When you try explaining you are on certain medications or have disabilities. They just try to shut you down & disregard you as a person. Everything has to be on their terms! I personally won’t be using Samaritans again because of everything I’ve just mentioned. They are untrustworthy & you could be speaking to anyone who might not have had proper checks. Some volunteers cannot be DBS checked because they do not meet the criteria to be considered a "true" volunteer under the law, which means they might be receiving payment, are on a work placement, or are taking part in a training program that leads to a paid position, essentially benefiting directly from the role and not purely volunteering their time unpaid; in such cases, a DBS check is not applicable.

I rang up tonight wanting to speak to some one not only did I wait more than 5 mins but the phone line cut me off then when I rang they said almost the simaritens where busy on the phone lines was not impressed sorry

I called them and felt I was in the wrong for waking them up!!!!!! In the end I ended the call!! What a complete waste of time this call was!! Will never call them again!!!!!!!!

Tried calling in my “hour of need” and gave up after waiting over eight minutes to speak to someone.
Their website states they’re available any time of the day.
It’s a good job I wasn’t feeling suicidal.

I have only ever had really good experiences with the Samaritans, I think they are an amazing charity and believe if it wasn't for them I would have died a few times. When you are in a crisis, their is no point in having a crisis team if you have to wait 4 to 8 hours to speak to them but, I did not have to wait long to get through and being able to speak to someone in the height of my crisis, helped me so much and I always got someone lovely to speak to be a man or woman. They were kind, caring and listened and showed empathy. I have had to ring them a lot over the last two years because, my mental health hit rock bottom and I have no other support. When I suicidal and do low, they listened to me with no pressure to finish the call, when I could not lift my mood up myself after trying very hard myself I would ring them and just talking to them and the distraction would live my mood up and give me energy to fight on. I found it easier than the crisis team, because they are so busy and stretched. I was grateful for any help especially unpaid, they are volunteers and they do it out of the goodness of their hearts and I do grateful to them for saving my life at times. To me any charity help is a bonus because the mental health service don't help you or you wend up going round in circles and being past from pillar to post and it sends you mental. So for me Samaritans all I have to say is Thank you Samaritans.

I am deeply saddened by the cultural attitudes of the Samaritans here in Norwich, Norfolk, particularly in the retail section. I believe the individual in question has been with the Samaritans for many years, and while I expect this behavior has not been typical in the past, it was still disheartening.

During my experience, I felt unwelcome, particularly due to the influence of the manager, David, on some of the other volunteers. However, I did encounter a lovely, strong, mature individual who extended a welcoming hand to me in the city center shop.

David, the manager, appeared to obstruct my attempts to become a volunteer, but I refused to be discouraged by this. My overall experience left me feeling uncomfortable.

It was evident that the manager was influencing some volunteers, who would only engage with me when absolutely necessary. In his significant position, he should be displaying maturity and acting in a non-judgmental way, certainly not engaging in age discrimination or showing personal dislike towards someone.

I consider myself an outgoing, sociable, and well-rounded individual, so I found the overall mentality and culture very alien to me. In the retail section of the Samaritans, there are many vulnerable and impressionable individuals. It is crucial for them to feel that they will not be judged for their sexual orientation, gender identity, or any emotional and mental health challenges they may face while seeking social interaction.

Sent an email hoping for some moral support during a severe depressive episode. Never got a reply. This is obviously appalling, and I feel they should be taken to task for that. I mean, they're as much use a chocolate fireguard and have left me with no support during a very difficult and vulnerable time. Now what?

If 0 was possible would post, if suicidal at end of conversation will Want to do it. Useless automatic responses, and literacy if in state of need want to read!

I’m speechless …just called the charity and I was so upset I was crying and finding it difficult to speak.. no introduction and they never spoke after saying ‘how can I help’ then I was absolutely horrified as they put the phone down…. I waited 25 minutes for my call to be answered.
Looking at these other reviews I simply am perplexed as to how on earth they are allowed to operate …
I used this service 10 or so years ago and I could not fault it.
This is absolutely horrifying.
I work for the health service and i am absolutely saddened and angry to read all these bad experiences and not one response from the organisation…75% of reviews here are one star..
This is criminal negligence.
These people are just extremely upset and in pain - they just need someone to listen. They don’t expect solutions- just kindness.
If you can’t do the job please leave.
If the organisation can’t cope then replace it with one that can- utterly disgusted

Zero! Don’t answer. Vile!!!

They actually make you want to kill yourself!!! No more funding!!!

Waste of time!!

Going through a crisis and no one is there to pick up the phone, when the service has been recommended by my Gp, the NHS and the local adult and social care services.

What’s the point in having a number when no one is working, and couldn’t care less!

Brilliant service, on the two occasions that I made contact with the volunteers I found them very helpful.

Yes I totally agree. The Samaritans is a sham, my father contacted him years ago and still ended up taking his own life. People need to understand that this is a money making charity and that the CEO makes a roundabout £137,000 a year. It’s about money pure and simple, so if anyone for one minute thinks that they are there to help you, they are not, they are there to make money, it’s a business everybody just understand that. They do not care at all. As a younger man I would give to charity very often, but now I never give to charity, ever, because once you realise the people that are running these scams are just out to make money and they try and guilt trip you into giving them your hard earned cash, well they won’t be getting any of mine that’s for sure. If I see someone in need, I help them directly, that that’s the best way to do it. All I will say is this, if you are feeling down and depressed, talk to a proper healthcare professional who is actually trained to deal with that sort of thing, Because these guys on the end of a phone are not gonna help you at all. Fact