UNDUE stress in manning branches of the Samaritans in Ireland is a prime reason for the numbers of volunteers leaving the organisation, it has been claimed.
The annual conference of the organisation in Sligo at the weekend was told that a survey of those who leave showed a direct connection with the difficulties of managing branch rotas.
Regional representative, Mr John Dolan, advocated the use of technology to resolve the problem, whereby calls could be diverted to reduce stress on volunteers.
Mr Dolan also made an appeal for more volunteers, particularly for the organisation's eight branches in Northern Ireland. He pointed out that although the number of calls to Irish branches of the Samaritans had increased already this year by 7 per cent, the numbers of volunteers in the North had remained static.
Mr Dolan said he was conscious that the Samaritans might not be giving as good a service as they should to people who wanted to visit them in their branches.
The Rev Sydney Callaghan, a founder member of the Belfast branch of the Samaritans in 1961, told the conference the primary need in the organisation was the ability to listen. The Irish as a nation were not good at listening, and it remained a neglected art.
He said if people in the political arena listened to each other, as distinct from shouting their slogans and shibboleths, greater progress might have been made in the peace process.
Psychologist and therapist Ms Patricia Redlich criticised advances in medical technology which had the ability to prolong peoples lives. She said she did not believe that we wanted 95 year old women being operated on tubes stuck into them, and drips stuck down their throats, simply because these things are technically possible. We had lost our sense of balance.
She said the Samaritans as an organisation should realise that they operate in a very pressurised system, not only because of those who contact them, but also because of the tendency to forget that we are all mortal.