Following a successful pilot, the emotional support via text messaging service is being gradually rolled out to Samaritans' 202 branches throughout the UK and Republic of Ireland. From the start of the pilot in April 2006 to the end of 2007, Samaritans received over 258,000 text messages from people experiencing feelings of emotional distress and despair and this was achieved with no active publicity of the text message number. We need funding for various areas of the roll out to ensure that the service can continue.

Volunteers are the very essence of Samaritans and on-going training is needed to ensure that they have the skills they need to carry out the role. A number of training events and weekend are organised centrally.

We hold schools to provide training for new directors and chairmen, branch visitiors, our regional representatives and we hold an annual conference for over 1,200 volunteers where there are a variety of seminars held providing a wealth of background information for new volunteers.

It is essential that we provide training for our volunteers so that they are confident and comfortable in providing an emotional support service. We need to recruit and train 3,000 volunteers each year to ensure that the service remains available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.