Samaritans is a confidential emotional support service for anyone in the UK and Ireland. The service is available 24 hours a day for people who are experiencing feelings of distress or despair, including those which may lead to suicide.

If you live outside of the UK and ROI, visit www.befrienders.org to find your nearest helpline.

Volunteers offer support by responding to phone calls, emails and letters. Alternatively people can drop in to a branch to have a face to face meeting.

Across the UK you can call Samaritans on 08457 90 90 90 for the price of a local call. In the Republic of Ireland call 1850 60 90 90.

You can also email Samaritans at jo@samaritans.org, write to Chris, PO Box 9090, Stirling, FK8 2SA or if you are deaf or hard of hearing use the single national minicom number 08457 90 91 92.

The service is offered by 17,000 trained volunteers and is entirely dependent on voluntary support. There are 202 branches of Samaritans in the UK and Republic of Ireland.