Volunteer and help at The Samaritans

“Living in a fast paced and frenetic city like Hong Kong is fantastic but can also be incredibly stressful and this is why we believe our work is essential,” says a notice on the The Samaritans’ website. The non-religious charity seeks to provide round the clock emotional support to anyone in despair or feeling suicidal – a vital service in our city which suffers a fatal suicide every 10 hours. 

Samaritans volunteers run a multilingual telephone hotline that’s open 24 hours every day of the year and an email service that they aim to respond to daily. In their own words, “We won’t tell you what to do and we don’t judge – we are here to offer unconditional emotional support.” It’s a demanding but incredibly rewarding service.

The charity's hotline is operated by unpaid, trained volunteers and now they're the ones in need, looking for Hongkongers to lend a hand and pitch in. Since 1974, the Samaritans have received more than 563,200 phone calls from callers ranging in age from 8 to 80. Their service is provided to anyone regardless of age, creed, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation and strict confidentiality is adhered to.

If you’d like to help others visit The Samaritans website to join their volunteering programme or to make a donation. 

If you need emotional support you can contact the charity via 2896 0000 and jo@samaritans.org.hk.