A Samaritans volunteer was suspended after he publicly called on the charity to sever its ties with a radical trans activist group, reports the Telegraph.
Robert Laverick, a listening volunteer at Samaritans in Leeds, posted online that the suicide prevention charity should end its endorsement of Gendered Intelligence.
The controversial group, with contentious views on sex and gender identity in young people, is one of the charities Samaritans recommends on its website.
Following a disciplinary investigation by Samaritans, Mr Laverick, an academic at the University of Leeds, was found to have breached multiple guidelines with his post.
The 32-year old was given a written warning and ordered to undergo equality training, while Gendered Intelligence continues to be endorsed on the Samaritans website.
“They [Samaritans] have missed the point,” Mr Laverick told The Telegraph. “It’s all well and good to punish me, but that doesn’t change why I made the post.”
Mr Laverick started volunteering a year ago at Samaritans, which provides a helpline service for people in emotional distress or at risk of suicide.
In July, he posted on X, formerly Twitter, about an independent review by Prof Louis Appleby, a suicide expert. The review debunked trans activists’ claims that the ban on puberty blocker drugs, brought in by the previous government in May, will increase child suicides.
In the post, Mr Laverick wrote: “As a Samaritan listening volunteer, will the charity stand with Prof Appleby and condemn the false and irresponsible suicide claims around those whom are questioning their gender and reconsider our signposting list to remove harmful groups?”
In a later post, he called Gendered Intelligence an example of a “harmful group”.
Gendered Intelligence has caused controversy by giving seminars in schools to children as young as four on changing gender.
The charity says it exists to “increase understanding of gender diversity”, but parents’ groups have expressed concern that young children will become confused and could misinterpret feelings of unhappiness as a symptom of being the “wrong” gender.
Gendered Intelligence has said it is disappointed at the puberty blocker ban, which it warned it would have “profound impacts on trans young people”, but has stopped short of linking the ban to a rise in child suicides. The charity has been contacted for comment.
Mr Laverick was informed by Samaritans that a complaint had been made about his post one week later. He was told he had been suspended from his role while an investigation was carried out by the Samaritans Central Office.
The charity found Mr Laverick had breached its volunteer agreement, social media guidelines, and equality, diversity and inclusion policy.
It concluded his post had “some negative effect on supporters” and that he was “operating as an extension of Samaritans and our brands” at the time.
Mr Laverick, who has remained in his role at Samaritans, said the report had not considered his concerns about Gendered Intelligence.
He said: “It was frustrating originally getting the email which informed me I was being investigated, it was frustrating not being allowed to work, and it was frustrating in the aftermath of the process that my concerns have mostly been ignored.”
Tiger de Souza, executive director of people and culture at Samaritans, said: “Samaritans recently received complaints from members of the public regarding a volunteer’s social media posts that appeared to breach our strict non-judgmental policy.
“We have conducted a thorough internal investigation into this matter and shared the outcome with the volunteer, including steps to help develop their understanding of Samaritans’ key principles.”
