Does anyone out there consider taslking to Samaritans as a form of counselling?

Question

It might not be face to face but do you think t is at least in the same ball park?

Answer 1

I would say it depends on how you put the lines of the field. The Samaritans are excellent as a crisis intervention service. This means that if you are in crisis, they can help you to get through the crisis using a talking therapy.

But in ball park terms, I would say that they are on the admissions gate. that the training is adequate for the purpose is besides the point. They may well be playing for a major league team on Saturday, but right now they are just on the gate.

Crisis intervention cannot take the place of counselling, but it can give you tools to get through.

Counselling has advantages that a phone service cannot provide. A good therapist will notice things and use for your therapy things like body language, blood pressure changes, where your eyes go when you are talking, facial expression and the like. When a person listens, there is only 7% of the message in the actual words. (53% facial expression and 40% body language.) A counsellor knows how to interpret much of the other 93%. Take the example of lying. On the phone, it is next to impossible to know if a person is lying. Face to face, a trained counsellor can know whether the person is lying deliberately or whether they are lying to themselves.

On top of that, when a person reaches crisis, it rarely has to do with what is happening to them at that time (although it feels like it). For example, a person upset because they have just been dumped, may have issues of rejection or abandonment. So a phone service can tell you how to get over the person and move on with the relationship or lack of it, but counselling tells you how to accept yourself, how to be there for yourself and how not to live in fear.

I have no desire to knock the Samaritans. I believe that they do a great job and provide a vital service, but not counselling in the full sense of the word.

All the best

Answer 2

Speaking as an ex Samaritan I can confirm that the organisation is predominately manned by trained volunteers although some of those volunteers are professionally trained in psychology and counselling and do act as consultants in their respective branches. Although the service is confined to telephone communications most people who ring the Sam's
prefer this degree of anonymity

Answer 3

Sam`s is a professional councelling charity, although staffed by voulenteers, their trainning is rigourous and ongoing and newly recruited members are stringently veted before joining and would not be permitted to "take calls" until their director believes that their ready.
The old saying "it`s better to talk" is what it`s all about, if you have a need for council then sam`s are there for you 24/7, 365 days a year, they will listen to you, and by listening perhaps be able to help.Sam`s are non-judgemental and non-denominational, they are there because we all need someone to talk to at sometime.

Answer 4

I used their online services a few times,I preferred it to talking on the phone as I hate phone conversations! I think it is a very worthwhile organisation and I have a lot of respect for the volunteers as I know how much work they have to do.

Answer 5

why?? These are basically pretty good people who are trying to help others. I am sure that if it got to be to tough on them, they would slack off.,etc.. If they needed to talk to someone, I would gladly help them as much as I could. It is not as though they are not human and that they do not have problems, but they put, for a while, their problems away and try to help others. They probably draw on some experience that they have had. I admire them, also I think they are very unselfish people.

Answer 6

i don't think of so. regardless of each thing, maximum larger academic establishments have been initially (in keeping with possibility not any further, yet initially), alongside with maximum medical centers (that have been initially, and maximum outreach courses (alongside with "the sturdy Samaritan" or "Samaritan's handbag", alongside with people who pass to 3rd international international locations to feed the ravenous, deliver medical help, dig sparkling-water wells, etc, are, for the main section, began and/or run by making use of Christian and Missionary agencies agencies. Salvation military is Christian, Christian Missionary Alliance is Christian, assembly of God and Baptist missionaries international extensive digging sparkling-water wells are all Christian. So are such agencies that start up orphanages in third international international locations, and "save the youngsters", "Feed the youngsters" and different "sponsor-based" courses, the are ALL Christian. i might ask you to grant a number of your own demonstrable info and statistics to back up the implied declare. What are YOU doing?

Answer 7

Yes I think so (but all the Samaritans can do is listen and make noises that make them appear attentive. If you just want someone to talki to then o.k. Yes they are volunteers but they are TRAINED VOLUNTEERS, and they care (not all trained counsellors do!).

Answer 8

no. samaritans is run by volunteers who may have had limited basic training. althugh a help in a crisis, they are no replacement for proper counselling.

Answer 9

I did have recourse to use them when feeling depressed and it seemed like a good way of dealing with how I felt> I wasn't really concerned about categorising what it was - but counselling sounds like as good a definition as any

Answer 10

I've been lucky enough not to need it. But if i was in that place then I would. Sometimes it's better to talk to a complete stranger than someone you know.