Seeking help is more taboo than suicide where young men are concerned, Suzanne Costello, director of Samaritans Ireland, has said. Patsy McGarry, Religious Affairs Correspondent, reports.
"Young men between the ages of 15 and 24 don't seek help, though there is lots available," she told The Irish Times. "It seems there is more of a stigma for them in seeking help than in suicide."
To address this, the charity introduced a texting service, aimed at the 15-to-24 age group, on a pilot basis earlier this year. It was "hugely successful" and they hope to launch it on an islandwide basis in 2008.
The majority of callers to Samaritans helplines are in the 30-to-50 age group, whereas the majority who contact the charity by e-mail are between 20 and 30. Those who contact it by text tend to be in their mid-teens or early 20s.
Samaritans volunteers will deal with an average of one call every six to seven seconds for as many as four hours from about 10pm tomorrow night, said Ms Costello.
The figure represents "a spike" in a busy 48-hour period of greatly increased call numbers which happens particularly at Christmas, new year and, to an extent, at other holiday periods.
On average, the charity receives 22,000 to 26,000 calls a month, which rises to between 28,000 and 30,000 at Christmas. Most callers are people experiencing relationship difficulties or people lonely and depressed through a lack of family support exacerbated at holiday time. Some are people in financial difficulty following the Christmas splurge.
The Samaritans' estimated 2,000 volunteers deal with calls on a 24/7 basis. They can be contacted at 1850-609090 in the Republic and at 08-457909090 in Northern Ireland.