Samaritans Bath and District

Overview

People struggling to cope contact us every few minutes in Bath. Someone is there for you around the clock to listen to what’s troubling you even if life seems too difficult to go on. You will speak to a volunteer who is just an ordinary person caring about what you’re going through. We don’t judge and we won’t tell - just listen.

You’ll also see us each Monday evening in the Emergency Department at RUH talking to patients and their families. Or perhaps when we visit local schools or at Leyhill Open Prison.

What we do

What can I speak to you about?

There’s no typical problem that people talk to us about. You can talk to us anything that’s making you feel bad.

Sometimes people call us because they are struggling to cope with a single problem that they have.

More often, people contact us because a number of problems have mounted up and they’re finding it hard to cope.

What matters to us is how your life is making you feel.

Our services (the phone lines, emails, letters and in branch) are manned by everyday people who volunteer for Samaritans. They’ve been through months of thorough training to qualify as a Samaritan, so they really know what they’re doing, and how best to help you, no matter what the issue is.

We are there to support you through all kinds of situations feelings and thoughts. What one person can take head on, may lead another person to struggle to cope.

You don’t have to be feeling suicidal to get in touch. Only I in 5 people who call us feel suicidal at the time. 

Sometimes just one call or email is not enough – and it doesn’t have to be. You can contact us as often as you need to. We are always here.

What happens when you contact us

1. A volunteer will always answer

If you phone us, we answer with something like ‘Samaritans, can I help you?’. How the phone service works

With text, email, letter and face-to-face visits, how we respond to you depends on what you say.

2. You talk, we listen

We listen to you and help you talk through your concerns, worries and troubles.

We’ll focus on your thoughts and feelings rather than going into the details, so we may ask questions to help explore how you feel.

Most people aren't suicidal

One of the questions we'll ask might be about whether you're suicidal. By asking the question, we’re just giving you the space to talk about these feelings if you want to.

Most people who contact us are not suicidal.

How does focusing on feelings help?

You'll be able to see things more clearly. You'll be able to think much more clearly about what your options are. 

Sometimes people need to cry or show how angry they are at life, or go over their thoughts and feelings several times to make sense of them, and that’s fine. We're there for as long as you need us.

We won’t tell you what you should do.

We won’t make decisions for you, and we'll support the decisions you make. 

You are the expert on your own life. Our advice or opinions are not important.

If you want specific advice, we may be able to give you contact details for organisations that specialise in helping with a problem you may have.

Where we do it

The Samaritans are a National Organisation but have branches all over the UK. You dont need to come to our office at Windsor Castle Bath to get our support, you can contact us in so many ways whenever you need to.

How to access