Give the gift of listening this Christmas, Samaritans say

The Samaritans are encouraging us all to give the gift of listening this Christmas.

They are urging us to tell friends and family it is ok to open up if something is troubling them.

The charity's Gill Leo says they are making it easy to give the gift of time this year.

She said: "What we have on the Samaritans website are vouchers you can download, they're free and what you're doing is you're committing some of your time to a family member or friend.

"The vouchers are to go and take a walk together, to call over to that person's house for a cup of coffee, to sit down some evening with a box set and just have a good catch up, they're simple things."