BBC Radio Oxford

Thursday 17th May

Today we had our last evening of training. It’s been a fascinating time working with a small group of leaders and trainee volunteers. People are from all different ages and backgrounds and we’ve become quite close over the last few weeks. The training has been much more challenging and more interesting than I’d expected at the start. Some difficult issues have been raised, such as how to deal with callers expressing suicidal feelings and intentions. But the organisation’s policies and guidelines have been very well explained, and we’ve all had plenty of practice using role plays. Over a celebratory drink, we are welcomed to the Samaritans and meet our mentors – experienced volunteers who will guide us through the next stage.

Sunday 3rd June

I turn up for my first duty as a probationary volunteer. For the next couple of months, I will sign up for duties like a fully-trained volunteer, but will be supervised by my mentor, Dave. Dave shows me upstairs to the Operations Room which, up to this point, has been out-of-bounds! It’s basically two phones, two beds (for volunteers on night duties), and a lot of notice boards which keep volunteers abreast of what’s going on in the branch and organisation more broadly. After explaining lots of fire and safety regulations, Dave mans one of the phones and shows me how it’s done. The duty is extremely uneventful, and very few people actually call. Dave says that you can simply never predict what duties will be like.

Thursday 19th July

I’m still being supervised by Dave, but this time, he lets me go on the phones. I’m very nervous the first time I answer the phone. The role play calls in training tend to emphasise a particular typical scenario: what do you do if someone is feeling suicidal? How should you respond to nuisance calls? What happens if the caller wants advice? In fact, the first few calls don’t fall into any of these obvious categories. But it’s a positive experience and at least some of the callers seem to have been glad to talk to me.

Sunday 12th August

I turned up late in the evening for my first night duty. Most volunteers only do one night duty a month since they’re reputed to be very demanding. This turns out to be true. I receive a series of very difficult calls, some abusive, some very despairing. It’s impossible not to be depressed by some of the things I’ve learnt about people’s lives tonight. I try my best to put my training into action and I definitely need to remind myself of some of the ground rules and basic guidance. Cups of coffee are frequent; between calls Dave, and Jane, the volunteer on the other phone, are both very supportive. In the morning I make a mandatory call to the team leader from the back office. Only tonight have I realised how important support networks within the Samaritans are.

Thursday 22nd November

Today was my last duty as a probationary volunteer, and therefore my last with Dave. We’ve had plenty of time to chat and have become quite close over the last few months. It’s what Samaritans usually call a “good duty”: callers ring, and at the end of the conversation most say they are glad to have rung. A caller also comes to the door and I have a short, but positive conversation with her in the room downstairs. Although face-to-face, the conversational techniques involved in this turn out to be exactly the same as on the phones.

From now on, I’ll be manning a phone on my own and working as a fully-fledged Samaritan. Like the training, these initial duties have taken me by surprise in many ways. But I’m proud to have survived it and feel I’ve learnt a lot, both about the world and about myself. Tonight I’ll be reunited with my training group for a small ceremony, and a drink to celebrate our “graduation” as Samaritan volunteers.