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Samaritans to close email and letters service

mp500

I just found out today that The Samaritans are closing their long running email and letter services. 

https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/letter-writing-service-closing/

https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/email-service-closing/

Since The Samaritans are often recommended by people on these boards, I thought this was worth pointing out since many people who suffer from autism and other related mental health problems either find speaking on the telephone to be difficult, or lack the privacy to do so.

They say that they "cannot provide immediate support" by letter. Indeed when I've used them they have taken weeks to reply, but that isn't really the point. Being able to think about what you are saying, in your own time, is more important than the immediacy. 

This isn't really surprising. Last year, they announced that they were intending to close half their branches, and have some volunteers "work from home".

Parents

  • I hate it, I really do hate it (the fact they're closing the email service). From what I've gathered they have (or at least had post 2020) cutback massively on the in person services too (which I'll admit I never used). I found the email replies could be robotic sometimes, but the reply times from my experience were fairly decent, they massively improved after the announcement of the decision to cease the service and the last time I used it I got a relatively passive aggressive note at the bottom questioning why I didn't call.

    Not only do I have zero privacy, I find talking on the phone very difficult and it's much easier for me to compartmentalize my thoughts via typing. The Calm webchat is a poor man's version of Samaritans webchat (which is barely open when I need it), and the less I mention Shout the better after I was held for a 4 hour wait a few months back.

    And while I know more dedicated services exist for it, it really hurts people who could be in domestically abusive scenarios where many people end up using older technology to communicate via email or messages opposed to meeting up or calls.

  • in reply to DarkElf

    Our local branch of the Samaritans had a sign up in the window saying it was closed due to coronavirus. They did remove the sign after a few years but I don't know if its actually open or not. 

    I've heard people both recommend and complain about Shout. As someone who doesn't really use SMS messages I don't really see the appeal of trying to cram your thoughts into a 160 character message using a telephone keypad. Its usually so fumbly that I give up before I've finished typing the message unless its important.

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  • in reply to DarkElf

    Our local branch of the Samaritans had a sign up in the window saying it was closed due to coronavirus. They did remove the sign after a few years but I don't know if its actually open or not. 

    I've heard people both recommend and complain about Shout. As someone who doesn't really use SMS messages I don't really see the appeal of trying to cram your thoughts into a 160 character message using a telephone keypad. Its usually so fumbly that I give up before I've finished typing the message unless its important.

Children
  • in reply to mp500

    They're awful. Twice I've had to use them and both times took multiple hours to get back to me. I guess I can't criticise Samaritans to be fair, as their webchat is the only time a text based service has actually helped me. I respect them, but still think closing the email service is the long decision