Death of Samaritans' founder draws tributes
01:54, 9 November 2007
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Tributes are pouring in for Reverend Chad Varah, founder of the Samaritans suicide prevention charity. Varah died in hospital. He was 95. In 1935, Varah conducted the funeral of a 13-year-old girl who had committed suicide because, being uneducated about sex, she had experienced her first period and thought it was a symptom of a sexually-transmitted disease. Spurred by the girl's death, Varah resolved to promote sex education among young people and offer support to youths, views that saw him harshly criticised in the 1950s. Varah established the Samaritans, which now has more than 200 branches in Britain and Ireland, in addition to some 200 so-called affiliated centres in 38 other countries, in 1953 "to befriend the suicidal and despairing." Since it took its first call in November 1953, it has grown to the point where it has nearly 17,000 volunteers in Britain and Ireland and has received more than 53 million calls since it began centrally tracking figures in 1978. It was one of the first organizations to incorporate online "befriending" as well. Also, some corporations had their staff go through "befrienders" training, in order to deal with fellow employees and customers (Samaritans volunteer counsellors "question gently, tactfully - without intruding, encourage people to tell their own story in their own time and space, refrain from offering advice and instead offer confidential emotional support, and try to see the other point of view, regardless of their own religious or political beliefs."
