NEW volunteer listeners are being trained by the Samaritans as it contends with a more than 20 per cent rise in callers during the pandemic.
Swindon and District Samaritans has been awarded £3,500 from Wiltshire Community Foundation’s Coronavirus Response and Recovery Fund to buy new headsets and carry out extra deep cleaning at its branch office in Swindon. The money was donated to the fund by the Oakfield development, a new neighbourhood of 239 sustainable homes in east Swindon.
The headsets will allow new volunteers to be mentored remotely while they gain experience of taking calls.
“The mentors listen into calls until the volunteers are ready to take their first step on their own,” said listening and publicity volunteer Maggie Gill.