Samaritans need help

It's World Suicide Prevention Day on Monday, and the Samaritans in the Isle of Man are marking the occasion by encouraging more people to get involved in their work.

Last year volunteers in the Island dealt with about 24,000 calls, over 50 of which were from people who said they were in the process of taking their own lives.

This year's international campaign has the theme "Suicide Across the Lifespan", and is backed up by the statistic that, worldwide, a life is lost to suicide every 40 seconds.

Director of the Samaritans in the Island, Clive Dugdale (pictured), says more volunteers are always welcome, but the training procedure is fairly rigorous:

If you fancy getting involved in the work done by the Samaritans, particularly answering the telephones, call them on 663399.

Alternatively visit the website: samaritans.org