History of Edinburgh and the Lothians Samaritans
25 Torphichen Street, Edinburgh EH3 8HX  Tel 0131 221 9999

The Samaritan Branch in Edinburgh, known at first as the Telephone Samaritans, opened on 2nd June 1959.  Until then, there were only the Samaritans in London, founded in November 1953 by the Rev. Chad Varah.  Within a year the number of Samaritan centres had grown to six, of which three (Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen) were in Scotland.  The Edinburgh Samaritans were (and still are) an independent charity.  In 1963, all the Samaritan branches then existing banded together to form "The Samaritans" as a charitable company.  Samaritans is not a religious organisation of any kind.

The service started in the basement of a church in Edinburgh's west end.  As it was not possible to operate 24 hours a day there, the Samaritans soon moved to Frederick Street, first at number 6 and later to a more spacious top flat at number 54.  In order to be more accessible to people with disabilities, the Branch (by then known as the Samaritans of Edinburgh and the Lothians) moved to its present ground floor premises in Torphichen Street in 1995.

To begin with there were almost as many people who called to speak to a volunteer face to face as there were telephone callers, but as access to telephones improved it became much the more common way for people to contact Samaritans.  Samaritans started offering emotional support by E-mail in 1994.  Edinburgh became the first Branch in Scotland to participate in this service, now the fastest growing way that people make contact with Samaritans.

Throughout its history Samaritans in Edinburgh have relied wholly on volunteers to staff the 24 hours a day service and, apart from some paid secretarial help, to organise the Branch.  After half a century of offering confidential non-judgmental support to people who were distressed or at risk of suicide, Samaritans reviewed the scope of their service.  In Edinburgh, as elsewhere, this essential core work is now supplemented by efforts to reach out to those in need of emotional support before they reach "the end of the line".