Dumfries Samaritans is one of 201 branches across the whole of the UK and Ireland run solely by volunteers.

For charitable purposes, Samaritans comes under the national organisation, but the branch is managed through a volunteer director, Ann Stephenson, and a team of deputy directors with a specific remit.

There are 16 active listening volunteers (with a further 3 in training), and 8 support volunteers who support the running of the branch e.g. volunteer recruitment, PVG checks, treasurer, external communications etc.

Every life lost to suicide is a tragedy and Samaritans works to make sure there is always someone there for anyone who needs someone.

The intensively trained listening volunteers take calls on the 24/7 helpline (116 123) on average once per week from the base at Hestan House, the Crichton, and always work in pairs with an off-site leader for debriefing and support during a shift.

Volunteers take calls from all over the country. Quite a few years ago, branches only answered calls from their own region. That raised two problems – there was a risk a volunteer might recognise a local caller, and also as small branches could only be open for a few shifts a week, those living in Dumfries and Galloway didn’t have access to support on a 24/7 basis as is the case now.

As well as manning the helpline, the team try to be as active as they can in communities across Dumfries and Galloway through outreach to try to get the message out there that Samaritans is there for anyone who needs to talk, not just those who are feeling suicidal. It's important for people to call before they reach crisis point. As part of the outreach, the team also encourage people to look out for people in their community who might be struggling. A leaflet is available setting out the signs to look for, how to open up a conversation with that person and how to encourage them to pick up the phone to Samaritans.

There is a small team of paid staff in Scotland, based in Edinburgh, and it is this team which was very involved in the development and now the implementation of the Scottish national suicide prevention strategy “Creating Hope Together”.

Dumfries Samaritans is pleased to be a regular attendee at the Dumfries and Galloway Suicide Prevention Group and is involved in the development of the local Action Plan.

More information can be found on the national website www.samaritans.org or by emailing Ann Stephenson on dumfries.director@samaritans.org.

Langholm Academy has been accredited with LGBT Charter at Silver Level.

 Langholm Academy has done an incredible amount of work towards developing an understanding of LGBTQ+ identities – this includes good engagement with staff training and arranging events and learning opportunities for pupils.

The school has done particularly well in embedding LGBTQ+ identities into their curriculum, with almost every subject including some form of LGBTQ+ lesson or example.

There has also been clear involvement from the LGBT student group throughout the charter process.

As part of Pride Month, a film screening of "Love, Simon" was arranged for pupils at the Buccleuch Centre. After the film, activities involving LGBTQ+ stereotypes were undertaken with pupils.

Langholm Academy will continue working on how best to amplify the voices of our LGBTQ+ pupils, parents and staff.  

Julie Chisholm felt a warm welcome from the Public Protection Committee (PPC) group when she gave a presentation and showed the short film "Nurture or Nature". Her presentation gave an insight into the work of Dumfries Women’s Aid and highlighted how much this ties in with the fantastic work being carried out by the PPC in Dumfries and Galloway.

Women's Aid not only work with victims of domestic abuse but also deal with the aftermath that sadly comes along with abuse. This may include alcohol or drug addiction, mental health problems, housing issues, financial difficulties and more. Referrals have increased greatly and continue to rise.

Financial stability is important to maintain operation of their valued service; while survivors of domestic abuse fight to survive, unfortunately, so does the Women's Aid support service.

Women’s Aid represents the voice of victims of domestic abuse in Dumfries and Galloway. If they give up hope, what message does that send to those needing to reach out to them? The service is a lifeline to those who need it. 

Hamish McGhie, the Independent Chair of PPC, was grateful to Julie Chisholm from Dumfries and Stewartry Women’s Aid for coming along and presenting this extremely hard-hitting video. It provided a vivid insight into domestic abuse and the significant knock-on effects it has on the whole family. It clearly highlighted the crucial need for early intervention across our multi-agency public protection partnership. It very much struck an emotional chord with members of the committee with a rich discussion taking place around the work of those working towards the prevention of violence against women and girls (VAWG), the subcommittee and the need for positive role models and relationships, the importance of language and the potential for the video to add value to multi agency training moving forward.

“I moved into refuge in May 2022 with my 1 year old son and my 2 year old daughter, being emotionally and physically abused by not 1 but 2 men. I remember feeling scared and lonely. But The environment and the workers made me feel like I was home. I slowly started to get out of my shell and make friendships in the refuge which helped me later on in life. When I got a house and I had to move out I was very happy to get help with the moving and applying for what I needed for the house. Even though I was happy having my own place I started to miss the staff and someone to talk to. But I soon got an outreach worker which helped me a lot, making sure I was OK mentally and encouraging me. Not long after that I went through some rough times as I let me exes back into my life and my self esteem went down the hill again; but I started the “own my life” course which really helped me understand what domestic abuse is and how to recognise it and opened my eyes, especially to why I was ending up in the domestic abuse situations and why I couldn’t let my perpetrators go. The course and the long conversations with my outreach worker about the course really changed my life and now I can say that I’m stronger than ever. If before I thought I deserved the abuse, now I’m 100% confident that none of it was my fault and that I will never accept that in my life again. Now my kids see a strong, happy and independent mum who’s able to provide them with all the love and attention they need.”

Police Scotland held a successful CPD event on International Women’s Equality Day. This impactful “in conversation with” event featured Police Scotland Superintendents Rhona Fraser (Ayrshire) and Nicola Robison (Dumfries) as well as guest panellist, Julie White, Chief Executive of NHS Dumfries & Galloway. This panel shared personal experiences, challenges and strategies for navigating and overcoming gender bias in the workplace.

Over 50 people attended this online event and feedback showed that a number of key takeaways were noted including “no woman should have to prove herself above her male counterparts.” The panel spoke of a number of enabling factors to support career progression including positive male and female role models.

This event is part of a number of internal focussed CPD events which Police Scotland are hosting across Dumfries & Galloway and Ayrshire, with cross divisional collaboration ongoing in support of the service-wide response to violence against women and girls.

In April, staff from the Out of Hours Social Work team attended a virtual reality (VR) headset demonstration facilitated by the Fostering and Adoption team. The VR experience has been developed to allow professionals working with children and young people to visually understand early life trauma. It allows the person to see situations through the child’s eyes and understand that trauma can commence even in utero before birth.

The videos provided an insight into trauma and looks at ways of supporting children using a therapeutic approach. It has been designed to take you from pre-birth into the world of the child when they live in negative circumstances such as domestic violence.

The session provided an exciting opportunity to use innovative technology to help form strategies to support our most vulnerable children and young people while trying to gain a greater awareness and understanding of how trauma has a significant impact on a child’s development.