'If it hadn't been for Chris I'd be dead by now'

"Being a Samaritan is a bit like lifting the carpet and seeing what's been swept underneath," says Chris Collin

'If it hadn't been for you I'd be dead by now.'

Chris Collin has supported thousands of people both in person and over the phone during his 50 years with the Samaritans.

However, these words from a young woman inside a Leeds Festival support tent more than a decade ago continue to stay with him.

He was volunteering at the music event for the charity and spoke to the woman multiple times over the bank holiday weekend after she told him she was feeling suicidal.

The following year, Chris was based at the same tent when a familiar face returned and asked him: "Remember me?"

"It just stays with you for so long, it's really powerful," says Chris, 72.

The Samaritans, which provides free, confidential support for people at all times of the day and night via phone, email or in person, is marking its 60th anniversary of opening in Sheffield.

Chris, who is originally from Surrey and first moved to Sheffield about 45 years ago, supports callers connected to its offices in the city and also volunteers during outreach events.

"I still remember the terror of taking my first call," he says.

Fresh out of university, the then civil engineer decided to volunteer as he didn't know many people in the area at the time.

"It was from a lady who had lost her husband after a long marriage," he says.

"She said, 'You sound really young. You can't imagine how it feels.'

"I think my response was, 'Well, tell me how it feels.'"

"We talked for about half an hour," he adds.

"Somehow it worked, there was a personal connection there."

The charity offers year-round telephone, email and in person support

Sheffield Samaritans says it takes about 22,000 contacts by phone and email a year, or roughly 60 a day.

"There's a popular myth at the moment that somebody can't understand you unless they've been through the same thing themselves," he says.

"In my experience that's not true."

Chris, who has also worked in computing, project management and telecommunications, continues: "You can empathise with someone even if you've never been through anything like what they've been through, because they tell you what it is like."

The call handler says many of the conversations he has with people leave him with several questions.

"You can talk to someone for hours but you never get to hear the end of their story," he says.

"You get used to that, you put it to the back of your mind."

Meadowhall shopping centre's central dome is turning green this weekend to mark 60 years of the charity in Sheffield

"Being a Samaritan is a bit like lifting the carpet and seeing what's been swept underneath," he says.

"There's a lot of lonely people in society, people who may go days without talking to anyone else."

He continues: I remember talking to a woman who said she fed her kids and herself on a tin of baked beans for two days."

The positive effect of opening up to someone about personal matters is something Chris experienced himself after the death of his father.

A friend, also a Samaritans volunteer, got him talking and Chris saw the other side of the support for the first time.

"It really works, just to have someone listen to you, giving their time and their empathy," he concludes.

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