World Mental Health Day: Q&A with Paul Parashar from The Samaritans
The team at Moon Executive Search are in touch with leaders that make a difference. We asked Paul Parashar from Bath Samaritans to shares some of the challenges that Covid-19 has presented to the organisation, the impact on their service users, and the changes that Samaritans made to get people the help that they need when in crisis.
How has Covid impacted the mental health of the Samaritans service users?
Mental ill-health has been the most common concern among callers to the Samaritans, during the year we experienced social restrictions leading up to July 2021. We’ve seen an increase in concerns about mental health among callers compared to the same time last year, with almost half of callers mentioning mental health concerns.
Over the year, callers have been increasingly distressed about existing mental health problems being exacerbated, including depression, OCD and in particular anxiety. These concerns continued to be reported frequently even as restrictions were relaxed over the summer. As the lockdown restrictions continued, callers appeared increasingly concerned about coping, which was linked to a fear of the future.
Since restrictions began, around 1 in 5 calls involved specific concerns about coronavirus.
For many callers with pre-existing mental health conditions, these have been exacerbated by social restrictions and a lack of access to mental health services and reduced community support.
The lack of access to mental health support continues to be a major concern, as well as community and social support. Many callers feel neglected and abandoned and have lost access to existing networks during restricted contact rules.
Average weekly mental healthcare contacts (e.g., diagnoses, referrals) in the UK during the first four months of restrictions fell by a half compared to the same period 2017 – 2019.
We know that having a mental health condition is a risk factor for suicide – although it’s important to note that a rise in suicide rates has not been linked at present. However, there is evidence to show an increase in suicidal thoughts amongst the people who have a mental health diagnosis. It is this group who are up to three times more likely to have suicidal thoughts, in comparison to those without a mental health diagnosis.
Whilst the pandemic has impacted all sections of society, the list below were all risk factors for higher levels of anxiety and depression at the start of lockdown. Differences were still evident in August (Fancourt).
Being a woman
Being young
Having lower educational attainment
Having a lower income
Pre-existing mental health conditions
Living alone or with children
How has the Samaritans adapted to the changes?
Over the past year, Samaritans has carried out 7 surveys of listening volunteers who have completed shifts since the pandemic began. Collectively, these surveys gathered nearly 11,000 responses and analysed over 4 million emotional support contacts. This has provided us with insight into how the coronavirus pandemic is affecting people who access our services, and their concerns.
Over the year, since restrictions began, around 1 in 5 calls involved specific concerns about coronavirus. Since restrictions began, volunteers suggest a continued increase in calls from people in prison, young people or people wanting human contact. Mental ill-health was the most common concern among callers during the year of the pandemic, affecting 47% of callers.
The analysis identifies 5 key groups that Samaritans are particularly concerned with:
people with pre-existing mental health issues
young people
Middle-aged men
healthcare workers
people in prison
The impact of Coronavirus nationally has been widely reported, however the impact at a local level is sometimes less evident, especially in the voluntary charity sector.
Bath Samaritans is one branch in over 200 in the organization nationally and our role in the community also offers outreach support to Prisons (HMP Leyhill), schools, colleges and universities and the local emergency department at Bath’s Royal United Hospital. We also have links with Network Rail, locally, and community groups across a wide area
Much changed when the pandemic struck but we were able to adapt and show resilience. Outreach was suspended and our service was at risk to those most in need. Many of our listening volunteers had to shield to protect themselves or a family member.
The reduction in volunteers coincided with more callers than ever turning to us for support. Through service coordination across branches and additional volunteer hours amongst our remaining cohort, we were able to maintain our service provision of 24- hour access across 365 days.
To comply with social distancing safety measures, we invested in changing the configuration of our working spaces to enable us to continue service, whilst reassuring our volunteers that they were entering a safe environment. Local funding grants also allowed us to deliver a new online chat service room. This new service is significant, as we are reaching callers who are new to our service – mostly younger callers, and who are one of our key concern groups.
Nationally, we developed coronavirus-specific online content, including general guidance and videos, from people who have supported each other through difficult times, and updated our advice for people who are worried about someone else. Samaritans also launched a self-help web app to help people manage their emotional wellbeing. This has achieved over 45,000 sign ups since it launched in May last year.
Finally, we launched a new, confidential support line service, for NHS and social care workers in England and Wales. The support line is run by Samaritans and all calls are answered by trained Samaritans volunteers, who provide confidential, non-judgmental support.
So many people have played their part in allowing the Samaritans to function at capacity across the last 18 months. The organisation were recognised as frontline workers during lockdown by the government, local grant givers provided financial support to manage the loss of fundraising, volunteers supported the challenge of service delivery and new volunteers continue to apply in record numbers.
We all recognise the importance of supporting mental health every day and we see that callers in crisis value a caring non-judgmental Samaritan, actively listening and providing a space for people to share feelings.
Thank you to Paul for sharing the Samaritan journey over the last years. Read their data on One year on: data on Covid-19 for more insight into their findings of the last year.
Great leaders need support during challenging times. Moon Executive Search is passionate about getting mental wellbeing out in the open and encourage our connections to contact a Samaritan today, if you are feeling stressed about your situation and need to speak to someone.
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