Background and Origin

Suicide is an extreme form of expressing one’s feeling of depression, loneliness and helplesslness. This translates to the conclusion that, “life is not worth living”. Unfortunately this expression is not understood  and felt by many.
Emotional support offered with warmth and understanding at the time of personal crisis might avert the thought of suicide. To provide this unconditional timely support through the use of volunteer befriending Befrienders International was established in 1974. Initially started as The Samaritans Movement in the year 1953 to serve depressed and suicidal people through volunteer befriending in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, it was subsequently expanded across other countries through Befrienders International.
There are currently over 350 centers affiliated to Befrienders International worldwide in around 45 countries with a work force consisting of around 40,000 volunteers providing care and support to the depressed and suicidal people.
The main aim of the centers is to give emotional support to people when they are suicidal. The centers also alleviate misery, loneliness, despair and depression by listening to anyone who feels they have nowhere else to turn.
The people who run the centers - befrienders - are volunteers who are all specially trained. The work is non-political and non-religious, and volunteers do not try to impose their convictions on anyone. They simply listen. The information of any individual coming in contact with a center - whether by telephone, letter, email or in a face-to-face meeting - is kept strictly confidential. So too is everything that the person tells a befriender. If some callers choose to remain anonymous – they can and we maintain it that way.