is about one of the suicide prevention hotlines in hong kong which mainly operates multi lingual . for the other suicide prevention hotline in hong kong see the samaritan befrienders hong kong . this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . february 2011 learn how and when to remove this template message the samaritans hong kong type charity genre voluntary agency headquarters hong kong area served hong kong key people volunteers slogan 24 hour multi lingual suicide prevention services website www.samaritans.org.hk the samaritans hong kong chinese operates a free 24 hour multilingual suicide prevention hotline in hong kong . it is a non religious charity that provides confidential emotional support to all people irrespective of race creed age or status who are despairing or suicidal . 1 the organisation is registered as a charity in hong kong and governed by its unpaid volunteers . there are about 110 active volunteers with the samaritans hong kong speaking 14 languages . all of its volunteers speak at least english as one of their languages . contents 1 history 1.1 formation 1.2 the wanchai centre 1.3 split into two branches 1.4 wanchai mtr 1.5 chai wan centre 2 services offered 2.1 24 hour suicide prevention hotline 2.2 flying squad 2.3 e mail services 2.4 student suicide prevention ambassadors training programs 2.5 support to people bereaved by suicide 2.6 outreach 3 governance 4 see also 5 references 6 external links history edit formation edit in hong kong andrew tu originally from inner mongolia of the republic of china and elsie tu gbm a missionary from newcastle upon tyne of england who came to hong kong in the 1950s began their tasks in helping its underprivileged . they established the mu kuang english school . working at this school in 1973 was dave tredrea an ex samaritan from the united kingdom who was pivotal in shaping the local suicide prevention activities similar to that of his home country . chad varah founder of the samaritans in the united kingdom visited hong kong in 1974 he was instrumental in the formation of a hong kong branch the samaritans hong kong . it became the first overseas branch of the samaritans initially with 20 volunteers and with andrew tu as its first director . the branch shared an office with elsie tu s clinic at lo fu ngam public housing estate now known as lok fu estate . the wanchai centre edit in april 1976 the samaritans moved to a new office in the sailors and soldiers home at 22 hennessy road in wanchai . the centre comprised two tiny rooms separated by a corridor and provided a service 24 hours a day 365 days a year plus a flying squad for emergencies . the two small rooms were replaced by two larger ones in the same building in 1979 . vanda scott who later became director general of the befrienders international in the united kingdom was the director of samaritans hong kong from 1980 to 1982 . split into two branches edit by the late 1970s there was a growing number of english speaking expatriates joining the samaritans hong kong to become volunteers so that it was able to strengthen their service to the non chinese speaking callers . from the beginning of 1982 this branch of the samaritans was renamed as the samaritans english speaking service concentrating their efforts to the non chinese speaking community . the original branch now known as the samaritan befrienders hong kong continued to devote their energy to the chinese speaking community . wanchai mtr edit the organisation moved to a room at the wanchai mtr station at the beginning of 1987 . the organisation hosted an international conference in april 1991 on the helping skills in suicide prevention which was attended by fellow samaritans throughout the world . with a growing number of chinese speaking callers and an increasing number of chinese speaking volunteers the organisation changed to a multilingual hotline in 1991 instead of just serving english speaking callers . chai wan centre edit in january 1993 the organisation moved its hotline operation to another centre at chai wan . volunteer selection training and other operations have been conducted at the new venue since . rev. chad varah the founder of samaritans worldwide visited the samaritans hong kong after a samaritans biennial conference held in sri lanka in the summer of 1994 . with effect from 1994 its 20th anniversary the organisation was renamed as the samaritans multi lingual suicide prevention hotline . services offered edit 24 hour suicide prevention hotline edit apart from a free 24 hour hotline service offering multilingual emotional support the organisation provides the following services flying squad edit the organisation has a group of volunteers ready to visit callers in dire situations . e mail services edit the organisation started to train volunteers to be conversant with the skills in providing support through e mail and by early 1997 the organisation joined forces with the befrienders international e mail team to provide e mail service to global callers as an alternative means to hotline calls . the samaritans hong kong was the first organisation under the befrienders international to operate e mail support outside of uk . student suicide prevention ambassadors training programs edit school children in hong kong are known to be sufferers from pressure arising partly from their studies and examinations and partly from the temptation of substance abuse . consequently in 1998 the organisation started a project in collaboration with kely support group and the outward bound hong kong known as the sko project to train senior students from secondary schools to be aware of suicide risks in their peers and in the community at large the skills needed to recognise the danger signs and how to respond to them as well as life coping skills . this project was revamped and renamed the youth suicide prevention project yspp . the project is now further tailored to operate in chinese and runs twice annually each time admitting 40 students from secondary schools . support to people bereaved by suicide edit people bereaved by suicide pbs the samaritans have organised an ongoing support group for those affected by the suicide of a relative or friend . the pain and emotional distress felt by people bereaved by suicide can be frightening . shock anger guilt shame and depression are among the many emotions felt . the pbs aims to provide a safe confidential environment in which bereaved people can share their experiences and feelings thus giving and gaining support from each other . outreach edit as a public service to the community the samaritans give talks to organisations societies and groups to raise awareness to hong kong people about the services the samaritans can offer . governance edit the samaritans hong kong is governed by unpaid volunteers . the 110 volunteers elect a management committee to oversee finance and fundraising and a director to be responsible for the general operation of the organisation . the management committee members and the director are unpaid volunteers . there are four paid staff at the samaritans hong kong to assist the volunteers in administrative and fundraising and publicity matters . the paid staff are not involved in the operation of the hotline . see also edit samaritans the samaritan befrienders hong kong crisis hotline suicide prevention references edit http www.samaritans.org.hk index.php page 301 about the samaritans external links edit samaritans hong kong official web site retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title the samaritans hong kong & oldid 718989264 categories charities based in hong kongsuicide preventionhidden categories engvarb from may 2016use dmy dates from may 2016articles needing additional references from february 2011all articles needing additional references navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 6 may 2016 at 21 37 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view