SAMARITANS OF NEW YORK INC

SAMARITANS SUICIDE PREVENTION CENTER
MOST PEOPLE TALK..., WE LISTEN!

The Samaritans of New York operates the only community-based organization in the NYC-Metropolitan area solely devoted to preventing suicide and saving lives by helping people (and those who care for and treat them) who are in distress, depressed, experiencing trauma, a personal crisis, self-destructive and suicidal behavior cope with their problems and get through their difficult times.

The non-religious Samaritans is part of the world’s oldest and largest suicide prevention network (with over 400 centers in 42 countries, from Argentina, Bosnia, France and Great Britain to Hong Kong, India, and Zimbabwe) that created the first suicide prevention hotline over 60 years ago. Samaritans has been the major provider of suicide prevention education and awareness services in NYC and environs for over 30 years with programs that include:
1) the only completely confidential 24-hour suicide prevention hotline; 2) the primary suicide prevention public education program; 3) support groups for those who have lost a loved one to suicide; 4) advocacy and community outreach for the at-risk and underserved.

THE NEED FOR SAMARITANS SERVICES

With suicide causing more fatalities than car accidents in the US, as many deaths as homicide and AIDS combined, and depression and suicide increasing in these trying times and troubled economy, the care and services provided by Samaritans are needed more than ever.

Samaritans approaches and methods are studied and utilized by countless professionals in every type of clinical and community mental health setting, including public and private schools, non-profit organizations and government agencies. Samaritans education programs have proved to increase the efficacy of providers in identifying and responding to those at-risk for suicide.

WORKING ON A NATIONAL, STATEWIDE AND COMMUNITY LEVEL

Samaritans is one of the founding members of the National Council for Suicide Prevention that, consulting with SAMHSA, NIMH, the Surgeon General’s office and others, plays a significant in the development of national suicide prevention policy.

Samaritans was a founder of the New York State Suicide Prevention Council, which was responsible for the NY State Office of Mental Health adopting suicide prevention as a public health priority and has, also, been a major force behind ongoing efforts to advance initiatives in NYC as coordinator of the NYC Task Force on Suicide Prevention.

Samaritans has been the “go to” community agency for the New York City Council on issues pertaining to suicide prevention, a driving force behind NYC’s first-ever public hearing on suicide and has been credited with making suicide prevention education a public health priority for the NYC Department of Education, which serves 1.2 million students.

THE SAMARITANS MISSION

The Samaritans mission–implemented by professional staff and 130 caring volunteers–is to prevent suicide by providing immediate and ongoing support to those in crisis; providing solace and support to those who have been touched by suicide; teaching caregivers the most effective ways to prevent suicide; and making the public aware of the keys to preventing it.

Providing services to people of every age, sex, culture, socio-economic standing, religion and sexual identity, Samaritans responds to every kind of personal, emotional or health-related problem imaginable, from a bad day or a broken heart to mood disorders and mental illness to a chronic or life-threatening disease, trauma or loss.

Samaritans is often the first place those who are depressed turn for help, since it is the only hotline in NYC that practices absolute confidentiality, which research has found to be a preference for many people at risk for suicide.

SAMARITANS VOLUNTEERS BEFRIEND PEOPLE IN CRISIS

Samaritans greatest asset is our devoted hotline volunteers who donate close to 35,000 hours of their time annually, the majority of it staffing the 24-hour hotline. They range in age from 21 to 74, come from every background and culture and the entire spectrum of careers–small business owners, investment bankers, social workers, teachers, working moms and dads, graduate students, administrative assistants, models, artists, contractors, etc.

At the heart of Samaritans’ work is the humanistic, non-judgmental approach to helping we call “befriending” which is both a value system and methodology that puts the focus on what the person in distress is thinking and feeling and helping them get through their difficult times. At Samaritans, we say: “If you are afraid of the dark it is better to be sitting holding someone’s hand than sitting alone.”

SAMARITANS 24-HOUR SUICIDE PREVENTION HOTLINE

With the goal of helping people in distress and preventing suicide, Samaritans free, confidential, 24-hour emotional support and crisis response hotline service is available on an immediate and ongoing basis to help people who are dealing with every kind of problem, illness, trauma or loss as they try to cope with their difficulties.

The hotline provides those in crisis (as well as the people who care for them) with a 24-hour safety net that can be used to fill-in service gaps, bridge between appointments and act as a source of ongoing emotional maintenance for those with chronic emotional issues.

Samaritans hotline is completely confidential and anonymous, and, unlike some other hotline services, does not utilize caller ID or call tracing, making it a safe place to turn for people who are afraid to go someplace else or feel they have no place else–due to social, cultural, economic or other reasons.

When needed, Samaritans is there. At 2 o’clock in the morning, after attending a counseling session, while seeking professional help, after exhausting available clinical services or after therapist hours.

SUICIDE AWARENESS AND PREVENTION EDUCATION PROGRAMS

Samaritans Suicide Awareness and Prevention Education programs are some of the oldest and most respected in the world. Samaritans education and training work has been utilized in over 40 countries and throughout the US, and the New York center has been the primary source of suicide prevention training in NYC and environs for over 30 years providing workshops, seminars, technical support and major conferences to over 40,000 social workers, caseworkers, guidance counselors, therapists, nurses, psychologists and other caregivers and mental health professionals.

At the heart of Samaritans education and training programs is our reliance on "befriending," an approach Samaritans over 25,000 volunteers practice all over the world that requires the caregiver to suspend his or her personal values, judgments and preconceptions while utilizing the skills and techniques associated with “active listening,” which puts the focus of the communication on the person being helped, what he/she thinks, feels and is going through at the time.

Our Public Education training program has been found to “improve participant efficacy and ability to identify at-risk individuals” and to “increase the abilities, awareness and confidence levels of people whose job it is on a daily basis to provide care, comfort and support for those who are in crisis and at risk for suicide” by noted researchers at the University of Rochester School of Medicine’s Departments of Psychiatry and Community and Preventive Medicine (with results of two studies published in Brief Treatment and Crisis Intervention, 2006, and the British Journal of Social Work, 2010).

GROUPS AND COMMUNITIES THAT RECEIVED SAMARITANS TRAINING

Since 1986, Samaritans has trained and provided technical support to lay and professional health provider staff at hundreds of NYC public schools, community non-profits, health centers, support groups and government agencies serving every culture, population and risk-group imaginable including AIDS coalitions, alcohol and drug services, programs for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, bullying, veterans, police precincts, health clinics, the unemployed, homeless, immigrants, etc.

A cross-section of sites that have received the Samaritans training includes: Coalition for the Homeless, Safe Horizon, NYPD, FDNY, Brooklyn AIDS Task Force, Mt. Sinai Rape Crisis, Alzheimer’s Foundation, Gay Men’s Health Crisis, Gay & Lesbian Anti-Violence Project, NYC Health & Hospitals, NY Coalition for Asian-American Mental Health, Fordham-Tremont Community Mental Health Center, Administration for Children’s Services, NYC Dept. for the Aging, DC37 Municipal Employees Legal Services, Salvation Army and Girl Scouts of America.

SAMARITANS SERVES SURVIVORS OF SUICIDE LOSS

Samaritans Suicide Survivor Support Group Program provides those who have lost someone they love or are close to with a supportive and caring environment designed to help them cope with their loss in the company of others who have had the same experience.

Samaritans, which established the first “suicide survivor” support group program in New York City, has been the acknowledged source of inspiration of the majority of the groups that have followed.

Meetings are run by trained facilitators that are, also, respected Samaritans volunteers who are experienced in dealing with the complex issues surrounding suicide and its aftermath. The meetings are run as peer support groups, where the people participating have the opportunity to focus on their thoughts, feelings, challenges and difficulties coping with their loss, without any undo pressures or expectations or other people judging them or giving them advice.

Many participants say Safe Place is the only place they can openly address what they are going through without having to be concerned about other people’s attitudes or judgments. Those who attend include people coping with the loss of a parent, spouse, sibling, child, life partner or other loved one. Their loss may be as recent as a few months previous, a year or 5, 10 or more years. Individuals attend on a regular basis, on occasion and at times such as an anniversary or before the holidays when support is so important.