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- Voluntary organization aiding those tempted
- to suicide or despair, established in 1953 in
- the UK. Groups of lay people, often
- consulting with psychiatrists,
- psychotherapists, and doctors, offer
- friendship and counselling to those using
- their emergency telephone numbers, day or
- night. The Samaritans were founded at St
- Stephen's Church, Walbrook, London, by the
- rector, Chad Varah (1911-), and subsequently
- extended throughout Britain and overseas.
- They are inspired by the story of the `good
- Samaritan' of the New Testament, who aided
- the injured traveller who had been attacked
- and robbed, instead of `walking by on the
- other side of the road'.
-