Samaritans receive most calls on Mondays, answering over 600,000 in last 12 months
A total of 606,816 phone calls were made to the service, 13,444 emails were sent, 2,081 face-to-face visits were made and 17,311 text messages were received by the Samaritans.
Monday between 8pm and 9pm was the most common time for people to reach out for help.
Furthermore, out-of-hours is when the phoneline was at its busiest with 63% of calls answered between 6pm and 6am.
The service received more calls from 6pm to midnight than at any other time of the day over the past year.
The findings were released yesterday in the Samaritans’ 2015-2016 Impact Report.
Another statistic showed calls received on a Monday tended to last longer than calls during the rest of the week.
However, calls in the early hours, between 4am and 6am, had the longest duration.
There was also a spike in calls made on Bank Holiday Mondays (1,835) compared to calls on a regular Monday (1,705).
“Over 450 people in Ireland take their lives each year,” said Deirdre Toner, Samaritans executive director for Ireland.
“Many of those people may feel like they don’t have anywhere to seek support.
“Samaritans volunteers work hard to provide a space for people in crisis when there may be nowhere else to turn.”
Ms Toner said the Samaritans’ goal was to reduce suicide in Ireland and the organisation was calling on the Government to make the issue a “priority”.
“Our vision is to reduce suicide and we work to target groups and communities who are at increased risk.
“Suicide is a complex issue and one which requires action for all sectors of society.
“Action needs to take place at a local level to ensure that people and communities at risk can access the support they need. We are calling on the Government to make suicide reduction a priority.”
Meanwhile, Helen McEntee, the minister for mental health and older people, commended the work of the organisation’s volunteers, particularly at Christmas, while also acknowledging the “many challenges” facing Ireland in relation to mental health.
“Ireland faces many challenges in relation to mental health, and I am committed to working with the relevant voluntary and statutory partners to address these.
“Samaritans – and other organisations in this sector – are making a significant contribution by supporting people experiencing emotional distress.”
Samaritans in Ireland has a 24-hour helpline which operates 365 days of the year.
They emphasise people do not need to feel suicidal to call.
Tel: 116 123 Email: jo@samaritans.org Web: www.samaritans.org
Number of calls
- 606,816 is the number of calls answered by the Samaritans in the last 12 months.
- 63% of these calls were received between 6pm and 6am.
- 74,372 is the number of listening hours provided by volunteers in the last year.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
