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WELCOME

WELCOME. A presentation Arranged & Presented By Samaritan Correspondence Branch. THE SEMINAR IS IN TWO PARTS. 1. Our two free-post initiatives. 2. The challenge of offering emotional support via the written word. Yes! You’ve got us for ninety minutes. The first of our two

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WELCOME

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  1. WELCOME A presentation Arranged & Presented By Samaritan Correspondence Branch

  2. THE SEMINAR IS IN TWO PARTS 1. Our two free-post initiatives 2. The challenge of offering emotional support via the written word Yes! You’ve got us for ninety minutes

  3. The first of our two free-post initiatives was introduced in 2008

  4. Consultation with the Home Office went on for about two years

  5. THE BASIC RULES WERE AGREED 1. Correspondence branch would provide envelopes and posters

  6. THE BASIC RULES WERE AGREED 2. Prison officers would not open letters sent to Correspondence branch from prisoners using the supplied Correspondence branch freepost envelopes

  7. THE BASIC RULES WERE AGREED 3. Replies addressed to the prisoner are placed in a sealed, plain envelope which in turn is placed in another plain envelope addressed to the Governor

  8. THE BASIC RULES WERE AGREED 4. The Governor has the unopened envelope delivered to the prisoner who opens the envelope in front of the prison officer.

  9. THE BASIC RULES WERE AGREED Uniquely it was agreed that prisoners could have: Confidentiality & Anonymity

  10. BY THE WAY ! At a recent conference of Samaritans, prisoners (listeners) and prison officers, it was noted that those under the greatest stress seemed to be - - - - - prison officers. So we produced a poster just for them, it seems to go down well.

  11. LETTERS FROM PRISONERS Less than four a month IN 2008 Over twenty a month IN 2011

  12. WHAT PROBLEMS HAVE WE FOUND The actual scheme works fine - BUT ! Not all Governors have adopted the scheme. 130 of the 161 prisons contacted have taken supplies. With staff turnover, Safer Custody Officers change on a regular basis, newly appointed officers are often unaware of the scheme. It costs around £200 to write to every prison with a sample poster and envelope. We would like to do that twice a year but . .

  13. HOW DO YOU MEASURE SUCCESS ? The numbers game SINCE THE SCHEME WAS STARTED 24,000 envelopes 3,000 posters 600 letters received HOW MUCH MISERY EASED ? HOW MANY LIVES SAVED ?

  14. OUR SECOND INITIATIVE FREEPOST FOR ALL CALLERS

  15. In 2010 Samaritans introduced a trial scheme for free-phone access. At Correspondence Branch we looked at ways of introducing a matching free-post scheme.

  16. This would have been ideal

  17. We eventually settled for this

  18. The Freecall service will cost Samaritans millions! Correspondence Freepost service will cost the branch less than £1000 a year.

  19. IT’S ALL DOWN TO Three extremely generous branches And our own fund raising

  20. Before we move on is there Anything you Want to ask?

  21. The Written Word –Guidelines and Suggestions GETTING IT ‘WRITE’

  22. Change in volume of contacts taken from 2010/2011 Annual Report:2010 2009 ChangeTotal no. of contacts 5,000,000 5,100,000 down 2%Telephone dialogue calls 2,320,000 2,350,000 down 1.3%Non-dialogue phone calls 2,237,000 2,379,000 down 6%Email contacts 190,350 170,700 up 11.5%Face to face contacts 27,650 27,850 down 0.7%Contacts by letter 1500 1350up 11.1%Contacts by SMS 168,500 130,100 up 29.5% The only methods of contacting Samaritans that showed a growth were those involving the written word. In the first 8 months of this year we have received 1047 letters, which could mean around 1570 in a full year, our highest ever!

  23. But…… From the Nottingham survey Callers felt some responses they received from volunteers were generic, scripted, cold, clinical, detached or impersonal. ……… Experience of the email and text service, in particular, was a source of dissatisfaction.

  24. A SHOW OF HANDS

  25. Is this ever you when you try to craft a written response to a caller?

  26. As with so many things in SamaritansIt’s a question of balance

  27. Should we respond with prescribed answers so callers always receive the same service? Or do our own thing so callers get a human response?

  28. ‘Best Practices’ Human warmth

  29. The Written Word –Guidelines and Suggestions

  30. When writing should we use “I” or “we”? What do you think about this starter? We are so glad that you have contacted Samaritans but we are sorry to hear that ………….

  31. There should be a sensible balance of "I" and "we“, possibly as in "I'm so glad you felt able to contact us but we’re sorry to hear that…." (We should avoid using all "I" or all "we").

  32. A caller who’s father has just died.Jo’s response:You must be feeling awful…….. Response from callerNo,it’s such a relief,I hated him - you obviously don’t understand. .

  33. A caller has been arguing constantly with their partner. How would you feel about: Do you think it's time you both sat down and talked about your relationship? This could easily be taken as direct advice. Do you think that changing it just a little bit to . . "Do you sometimes wish you could both sit down and talk about your relationship"- sounds better?

  34. What about “Have you thought of contacting your doctor” with a caller who is in obvious need of medical help. We may not know the caller’s situation. The caller might have been treated badly by an unsympathetic doctor, or may not be willing to accept the need of medical help.

  35. Would it be more appropriate to ask something like "Are you getting any other support for ...." Then if they come back saying ‘no I wish there was somewhere I could go’ then it maybe appropriate to mention a doctor. Would this suggestion work with most signposting?

  36. We are often asked for advice in all types of contact. A female caller has explained the abusive situation between her partner and her, which has several times resulted in hospitalisation. She ends her message by saying “Pleasetell me what I should do, I’m at my wits end.” We would hopefully respond in a warm and encouraging manner but in the midst of this excellent reply which we are crafting would it be appropriate to also say: I’m sorry but Samaritans cannot advise you what to do….

  37. Although obviously it is true that we can’t give advice, informing the caller of this directly can be discouraging and can come over as being negative. Does this sound more appropriate? You say the situation makes you feel at your wits end, would you like to talk over the options you have considered?

  38. Could this be improved? "I am sorry you felt you needed to take an overdose" It could be seen as disapproval of the action, is this possibly more empathic? “The despair you felt when you overdosed comes over very clearly in your e-mail”.

  39. Do you feel this is an appropriate response to a caller whose dad is very violent? "Your father is obviously a very aggressive person" This could be seen as making a judgement and the caller could take our email to “Dad" and say "Look, Samaritans say you are aggressive!”. Would something like this appear less judgemental? "It sounds as if the relationship with your father is very difficult for you“ Or possibly It appears you feel your father is rather aggressive”

  40. Is there a limit to how many questions we should ask in an email, text or letter?

  41. How many questions have you asked? This is so dependent on: SMS, email or letter Long or short email etc?

  42. If you feel there are too many questions, could one of them be turned into a reflective statement? If you are tempted to write, "I'm sorry I've asked so many questions please feel free not to answer them all." then probably it means you have asked too many! Remember - hopefully this will not be the only contact.

  43. How about these suggested ball park figures?: • SMS or short email - rarely more than 1 • Longer emails - No more than three • You can write a perfectly good email or SMS without any questions! • When we ask questions could we be setting our own agenda?

  44. Do you feel it’s appropriate to include in a written response “You can phone us anytime on . . . .” This might be read as saying "forget email, SMS, letter, the real way to talk to us is on the phone." How often do we suggest that phone callers email us???? Further you could be giving an email caller from abroad false hope?

  45. This is towards the end of a response to a caller who has emailed 3 times. “…. It’s good to hear you are finding our help useful. . . . .” How would you complete the ending to ensure that you offered the appropriate possibility of further contact?

  46. Format of emails and letters Can you assume that you are happy with the general content and tone. How do you feel about the format? I’m glad you have been able to contact us.weknow it can be difficult to pluck the courage, as you say. You wrote in you're email about the dark thoughts youvebeen suffering from. Can you tell us more about them? Do they get to the point of wondering whethrlife is worth living anymore? We're here to give you a chance to talk things through, while life so tough. Jo

  47. You know you can contact us (email us, text us write to us) anytime This is not really appropriate. We don’t know how the contact will develop, it might become a pen pal type relationship which becomes the subject of a care plan, sexually manipulative. And they could have saved “you can contact us anytime”on their computer as evidence!!! 

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