After having suffered my brother's traumatic death and the way I had to learn about it, then workplace bullying, parents dying etc. I have been a regular "customer" to the Samaritans and sad to say I only had a few helpful experiences years ago. I want to leave a review of a suicide charity called The Listening Place, London, but can't find them here. They were started by 2 former Samaritans as they saw the need for face-to-face support. I understand Samaritans are volunteers and not trained psychologists, but maybe have some do less shifts as I think this is an extremely stressful "job", paid or not. And recently I was shocked to see ads on socialmedia by the Samaritans in collaboration with British Transport police and Network Rail under the slogan "Smalltalk saves lives" where members of the public are encouraged to approach lone men in assumption they are suicidal. There are 3 main ads which ALL are done with women approaching strangers/men on the edge of a railway platform. They are told to "trust" their instincts to assume someone is suicidal. There's NO safety warning whatsoever like calling a member of staff, calling the police or other rescue services. People via women in ads are "coerced" to OVER-RIDE their instincts by questioning themselves if a stranger on the edge of a platform looking sad is suicidal. One ad then had the woman going to the man and invite him for coffee. And in that particular ad a male member of staff from the Railway in orange vest is standing close to the man observing the woman approach the man to invite him for coffee. Well, isn't that a brilliant idea, a woman inviting a stranger for coffee. Of course, any man will never see this as being "hit" on by a female. *Irony off*And I can see in my minds-eye the court proceedings: "Your honour, my client has mental health problems and was approached by the woman. He couldn't make a clear judgment when he pushed her on the rail tracks, as he saw her approach as ... [fill in the blanks] ..." Many of us on social media pointed this out to the Samaritans account, why the staff doesn't approach the man! It's very clear how women's empathy is played with again! My suggestion to the Samaritans was for anyone to call for help to be in a group, NEVER a female alone approaching a stranger! And with the news on the police with aggression, misogyny, violence against women, of course Transport Police support this. No, I'm not paranoid, but every woman knows how it is to walk with keys clutched between her knuckles walking down the street at night and how attackers often get off the hook by simply saying they have mental health issues. And even day-light attacks are more common than ever. I was appalled and social media EXPLODED with mainly women, but also some men, countering this, that not only women are in danger of attack, but that women yet again should do the emotional labour to save men and if the woman doesn't "trust" her instinct and gof forbid the man ends his life, it's all her fault! I don't suffer with suicidal thoughts as much anymore as I used to, but I will not call the Samaritans anymore and highly recommend The Listening Place from personal experience over the years. I also recommend to do some research into the Samaritans founder. Some "juicy" info there! I can't put a specific date as I called the Samaritans over various years starting in 2015 until 2018-ish and then remained with The Listening Place. To Trustpilot, could you please start a review page for The Listening Place as well as Maytree? The Listening Place deserve 10 stars hands down!
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