Archive

Star rating: 4/5.

In 2002 5,822 people in the UK took their own lives with young men aged 18-24 in the highest risk group, writes Graham Hopkins.

If someone is feeling suicidal our instinct is to try and be helpful: we advise, share experiences and seek solutions. And yet the best help is to shut up and listen.

This, of course, is the whole point of Samaritans (the "The" was dropped in a 2002 rebranding to make the non-religious organisation "sound less formal and stuffy") which was set up in 1953 by Chad Varah, a young vicar. He had buried a 14-year-old girl - in unconsecrated ground - who took her own life because she thought she had a sexually transmitted disease; in fact her periods had started.

This informative, easy-to-use site is very good. Not at all the stuffy site you might cross the ether to avoid.