About Us

open_24_hours

The Cork Branch is one of the busiest centres in Ireland. It is also the second largest. There are 21 branches in Ireland, north and south. The branch opened its doors September 1973 and now has 130 active volunteers of all ages from college students, middle aged to retired people. Every year the Cork branch receive approximately 38,000 calls.

As well as talking on the phone people can also visit the centre between 9am and 10pm every day. Other volunteers also attend music festivals to be available to young people. If you feel you don’t want to call in or phone, you can always e-mail us at jo@samaritans.org.

We are also available to give talks to schools and other organization on the importance of emotional health. Contact 021-4271323.

It’s all about listening, not telling callers what they should do about a particular issue. As director Pio Fenton explains: “We give no advice…Most of the time, advice gets in the way. We talk through options around a particular problem, but everyone’s issue belongs to them.”

So, there’s no advice, and no judgement, just a listening and sympathetic ear. The Samaritans ethos is to provide “non-directive, non-interventionist listening”.

Samaritans volunteers are of all ages, with many of them under 35. They are not necessarily trained counsellors. The service is strictly non-denominational, with volunteers of all religions and none in the Cork branch. There’s a mix of men and women, and of people at all stages of life.

“We’re no different to anyone who may need to talk to us…Whether you’re 70 or 25, you can still listen to what’s going on in a caller’s heart,” says Pio.

Every call and conversation is entirely confidential between the caller and the volunteer. We do not trace calls and never ask for a full name or address.