Samaritans is a confidential non judgemental emotional support service for anyone in the UK and Ireland. This service is available 24 hours a day for people who are experiencing feelings of distress or despair, including those which may lead to suicide.
We don’t offer advice, but by encouraging people to talk about their feelings we are able to help them explore all the options they have. Samaritans believes that given the time and space to work problems or difficulties through in confidence, people can find an inner strength and perspective which lets them find their own way forward.
Samaritans offer their listening service by telephone, email, letter and face to face in most of their branches. Festival Samaritans offer this service face to face at events and festivals.
Samaritans is available to anyone in the UK and Ireland. If you live outside of the UK and Ireland, visit www.befrienders.org to find your nearest helpline.
Festivals are about having a good time aren’t they – So why Samaritans at a festival?
At any event where there are thousands of people having a great time, there are inevitably some who are not. Sometimes people can arrive hoping to forget about their problems, but the sight of so many happy people can make them feel even worse. Others can arrive feeling relatively OK, but something happens during the event which leaves them feeling low.
This is where we fit in, by providing a 24 hour, non-judgemental, face to face listening service throughout the event. Callers can discuss anything that’s getting them down, no matter how serious or how trivial and the conversation is completely confidential. Whether people feel suicidal or not they are given the opportunity to talk through whatever is on their mind with a non-judgemental volunteer who is trained to listen.
Where is Festival Branch?
Festival Branch is a Branch of The Samaritans like any of the other 200 branches, except that we don’t have a building and you cannot contact us by telephone! Instead, we go to events throughout Britain, predominantly music festivals – including Glastonbury, T in the Park, and Reading/Leeds – but also biker events, dance events, Lesbian/Gay Pride, Crisis Open Christmas, etc. and provide a Samaritan service. Last year, Samaritans attended 17 events.