Ms Sarah Stack:

The support with other organisations has been ongoing since about 2012. They have different opening hours so one of them might close at 8 p.m. and if a person rings that helpline, they will get a message that the phone line is closed but if the person stays on the line, they can go through to the Samaritans. The caller has the option to hang up at that stage or they can come through to the 116 line. It is a safeguard for people. It is a successful service that we offer. Last year, we took nearly 1,400 calls through six different organisations, and that was listening for over 300 hours. Therefore, it is needed out there. Many people will want a specific helpline and will hang up and call the next day, but if they are in distress at that time, and it could be the middle of the night, some of the helplines are open overnight and we can be there during the day, so that is when we step in. The volunteers take those calls like they take any call from any organisation or any caller around the country. This is renewed quite often with many of the organisations, which can see the benefit of it, as we see the benefit of it. We are just there to support people when they need us.

On the partnership with the Department of Foreign Affairs, a memorandum of understanding was set up, although it took a while to set that up for technical reasons. We have these phone lines coming in from six different countries, so it took a while for it to be set up and for them to come in. They are advertised in the original country through the embassy staff. The Department of Foreign Affairs came to us because people were arriving in crisis at the embassies or were contacting local consular staff. While they were more than able to help and support them with legal issues, travel issues or anything like that, when people showed up in crisis, the staff wanted this extra backup. Our phone number is promoted in certain countries through embassies, the local GAA, Irish business groups and some magazines, and we have had pieces in local magazines for Irish people overseas. From all of that, I know that, last year, we took 61 dialogue calls and we were on the phone for over nine hours and, this year, there were 25 dialogue calls in the first six months of the year, supporting for over seven hours. We are not there for anyone who just fancies a chat with someone back home; it really is for people who are in crisis overseas. It was extended this year to other countries where people were actually being restricted in regard to travel and that was impacting on them. Again, they get the very same service if they pick up the phone to the Samaritans in Galway or in Sydney. The Department of Foreign Affairs phone lines are funded on the Department’s side.

A nice outcome from this is that we are also the official mental health partner of the GAA. Through the Department of Foreign Affairs and the GAA, we presented some mental health and well-being webinars to GAA members in Germany and in the Middle East, and that has been well received by people over there. It is just an addition that a staff member has done.

On training, the volunteers train themselves in the branches. Volunteer training and ongoing training in the branches stayed in the branches and that was done online by them. In terms of external training, we would always have been able to train face-to-face with groups. If it was staff at a homeless agency who were suddenly getting very distressing calls, by being able to put it online, we were able to go a bit further with that. It is about training staff and volunteers in organisations who may be dealing with the unemployed, with the homeless and with people in addiction services. During Covid, the homelessness and addiction issues suddenly became very much crisis calls, and we were able to extend our services in that way. It is something we will continue to do because it has been very well received on both sides.