The Samaritan Movement in Great Britain

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THE SAMARITAN MOVEMENT IN GREAT BRITAIN* GEORGE DAY, M.A., ALD. t The seed from which it all sprang was sown way back in 1935, for in that year the first duty of the Reverend Chad Varah, a young, newly appointed deacon of the Church of England, was to conduct the funeral service of a girl of 14 who had committed suicide. It emerged that she had been quite unprepared for the onset of menstruation , which she had taken to be a terribly shameful, retributive disease. So horrified was Varah that such ignorance could exist and lead to such despair that he forthwith vowed to give sex instruction whenever he had the opportunity. Thereafter, his premarital talks to engaged couples and his frank explanations in youth clubs became renowned. After 18 years ofthis work, in 1953, he persuaded Picture Post (a popular weekly magazine of that time) to print an article by him particularising all the sexual problems which may confront men and women during their lifetimes. It provoked a staggering fanmail. Scores of men and women wrote thanking him for lightening their darkness and restoring their self-respect. Some confessed that they had been on the verge of suicide, from which his revelations had saved them. Many besought a personal interview for further counseling. The inescapable lesson was that suicide can be prevented—at any rate in the field of sexual problems. But what about situations other than suicidal despair? The answer was just around the corner. To cope with this deluge and to perform the exacting duties of a South London parish priest simultaneously were obviously impossible, so he managed to get himself appointed Rector of Saint Stephen WaIbrook , a City church with virtually no parochial work, because the City of London, although swarming like Broadway by day, houses very few residents. He set up shop in the church vestry, where he discovered a telephone with that memorable number, Mansion House 9000, which was to become the Potential Suicide's emergency number throughout the United Kingdom. Kindly Fleet Streetjournalists featured the setup and the telephone number in the national newspapers. They dropped *Address delivered to an exploratory meeting convened by Miss Monica Dickens, Boston , Massachusetts, October 2, 1973. The Boston Samaritans are at 355 Boylston Street. tMundesley House, Mundesley, Norwich NOR 33Y, England. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine · Summer 1974 | 507 the sexual angle and started referring to Varah as the "Samaritan Priest," a name that stuck. It was broadcast that anyone in suicidal despair , from whatever cause, could ring Varah at Mansion House 9000. He took up residence on November 1, 1953, and on November 2 he was in business. Calls throughout Great Britain flowed in from far and wide. Many of his callers sought appointments for face-to-face interviews, so he retained the inner vestry with the telephone as his sanctum for interviewing (and sleeping and eating when he got a chance) and used the outer vestry as a waiting room. Because of his disinclination to terminate an interview himselfbut, rather, to let his caller go on until he ran out of steam, some interviews went on for hours, and those queueing up in the waiting room had to wait a very long time indeed for their turn. But among those who dropped in at Saint Stephens were some who were not in trouble but were actually offering help. Many were cranks or do-gooders or merely inquisitive, but a few were friendly, tolerant lay folk with no pretensions who asked, "Couldn't we come along and give them tea or coffee and chat with them and see that they are comfortable while they are waiting?" It could do no harm, so their offer was accepted. The effect was wholly unexpected. At once, Varah noticed that his "clients" came through to his den more composed and better able to get down to their counseling sessions. He also discovered that a great many, after their friendly gossip with the helpers, went off without waiting to see him at all, apparently well content and shouldering their burdens with a lighter heart. This cut right across his preconceived ideas and his training as a priest. He had assumed...

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