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The samaritans

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mjolnir81

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I've recently found myself unemployed and with no prospect of paid work in the imidiate future I have decided to do some volunteer work manning the phones for the samaritans, I recently went for an induction session where I was told if I had a caller that is on the verge of suicide you are not allowed to convince them not not, as suicide is a personal choice and itsnot our place to intafear, this left a bad taste in my mouth to say the very least the samaritans or the idea behind them is a christian concept and here I am being told to do something with couldn't be less christian.
Just wondered what other people's views onthis were if some one was suicidal would you simply let themgo through with it or would youth and convince them not too.
I accepted the but told the powers that be in will not under any circumstances be letting someone does if I stand even the smallest chance of preventing it
 

keith99

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That seems totally insane on many levels.

On a purely secular level a huge percentage of the tiem a suicide attempt is a call for help. And if someone is on the verge of suicide and then calls a help line what does that say? Any sane person would be inclined to think it is a call for help, as load and clear as one can make it.

On the Christian side almost all denominations consider suicide a sin and many consider it an 'unforgivable' sin as ones very last ast is an unrepented sin.

Now I can see very very explicit instructions to NOT go into the 'sin' aspects of that especially in a fire and brimstone sense as it is very likely to have a bad result.
 
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mjolnir81

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I absolutely understand what your saying about the sin aspect, but a a christian, nay as a human being the last thing I'm going to do is sit on the end of a phone whilst someone ends there life for me that is completely beside the point of why I want to help promote people in the first place
 
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Shane Roach

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the Samaritans that run a suicide prevention hotline told you not to talk people out of suicide?

I am sorry, I am not buying your story.

Samaritans | Suicide Prevention Helpline | Grief Support

Samaritans' mission is to reduce the incidence of suicide.

Some sort of context please? Your story seems patently insane so far...? Perhaps this is a different organization???
 
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mjolnir81

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Shan belive it or not mate it happened, I'm no lier, I was a shocked as you the woman taking the induction said we can be there for them but ultimately if they choose to end their life that is there choice and nobody has the right to stop them
 
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Shane Roach

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mjolnir81 said:
Shan belive it or not mate it happened, I'm no lier, I was a shocked as you the woman taking the induction said we can be there for them but ultimately if they choose to end their life that is there choice and nobody has the right to stop them
Click to expand...

How then did they expect you to "reduce the incidence of suicide"?
 
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Mling

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mjolnir81 said:
Shan belive it or not mate it happened, I'm no lier, I was a shocked as you the woman taking the induction said we can be there for them but ultimately if they choose to end their life that is there choice and nobody has the right to stop them
Click to expand...

I think I'd want to hear the exact words, in detailed context. I can certainly see people taking the approach of being unconditionally supportive so that the caller feels that they have at least one person in the world who they can speak to openly and connect with.

Being told, "No, don't do that," may well put somebody on the defensive and break down communication.
 
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Paradoxum

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Well if it is true I hope it is for practical reasons like Mling said. Directly saying not to kill yourself might not work as well as another method.

But if they are just saying it because it is a personal thing then that's some screwed up morality going on there.
 
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Jade Margery

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If you feel like you are being asked to do something out of the ordinary, call a few other suicide prevention lines and ask them what their policy says. As Mling pointed out, it could be that they want the people to feel empowered, like choosing not to commit suicide is something THEY want, not just something a stranger is telling them not to do. If the rest of your instructions included how to talk people down and make them realize their life was worth living if they would only choose to live it, then that makes more sense.

As you describe it though, it's totally weird.
 
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mjolnir81

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I was worried that rather than the general opinion of the samaritans as a whole these might be simply this woman's own opinion, in which case she is not acting in the best interests of those she has sworn to serve, I honestly don't know it definitely warrants further investigation
 
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