How Three Rings helps Samaritans Branches

Many Three Rings team members also volunteer as Samaritan listeners, and it didn't take us long to realise the potential benefit that Samaritans could reap from a system like Three Rings. So, since 2008, we've been working with other Samaritans volunteers to make a brighter future for Samaritans rota management.

It's time to change

It's hard work to run a Samaritans branch. Whether you're a Director or a Deputy, there's a lot of work simply in keeping all of the branch records up-to-date and filling the rota on a week-to-week basis. Three Rings makes things easier by simplifying the tasks you do most often, and by centralising information on your rotas and your volunteers on a simple, secure web application that you can use from anywhere with a computer and an internet connection.

Using Three Rings

We can get your branch set up with a Three Rings account and talk you through your first steps with it by telephone. This'll give you the chance to understand how Three Rings can help your branch, and we can discuss the best way to get them on board with it too.

We're sure you'll be excited by the potential, but we know that it's sometimes harder to get your volunteers on board. We can help by providing training materials or by arranging for a visit to your branch by Three Rings volunteers who are also Samaritans volunteers. We can also help you formulate strategies for a gradual roll-out of the system to your branch; perhaps hand-in-hand with your existing rota management system to begin with, before becoming a core part of your branch rota later on.

Key features

Three Rings has a powerful set of features, but here are some of the most important ones for the Samaritans branches we support:

  • Check the rota from anywhere – signing up for shifts doesn't have to involve dropping into the Samaritans branch or phoning the volunteers on duty; and Rota Secretaries and Leaders can check who's on duty from the comfort of their own homes.
  • Volunteer information at your fingertips – get the contact details of any of your fellow Samaritans with no effort: great when you're "phoning around" to fill shifts, but also good for promoting a community spirit and keeping volunteers in touch with one another, both in and out of the service.
  • For those for whom it's a little much – Three Rings provides an optional "simple mode" for any volunteers who feel overwhelmed by the web interface. The simple mode presents them with a list of options at any given time: would you like to... sign up for a shift, check when you're on duty, and so on.
  • Get better attendance to your events – whether there's ongoing training, fundraising events, or branch meetings, you can make sure all of the volunteers know what's happening, when. And with branch news, you can keep everybody informed about policies and practices, too.
  • Work more closely – Three Rings provides tools which can help you work more closely with your neighbouring branches, the region, and the national organisation: share news and events of regional significance with your volunteers or arrange for Samaritans from the next-nearest branch to help out with special projects. With your permission, regional administrators can instantly see which branches are fulfilling their commitments and which might need help or to re-arrange their shift patterns.
  • Role-based permissions – define your own "roles", such as Director, Caller Care, or Leader, each with their own permissions on the system, to streamline the security system. When jobs change hands, just re-assign the role, and all the associated permissions go with it.
  • Keep tabs on the work done by your volunteers – it's easy to generate statistics on the number of duties done and who's doing them: track commitment levels and find out who's pulling the most weight, or just look up volunteers who'd be best-suited to filling particular duty gaps.

Get online!

For details of the cost of using Three Rings at your branch, please see the price list or get in touch with us.

If you're interested in using Three Rings at your Samaritans branch, just fill in our contact form and we'll get back to you very soon. We look forward to having you on board!