Julie Bentley Good listener With a passion for social justice, Samaritans chief executive Julie Bentley believes we need to change the systems that damage wellbeing, she tells Jane Simms S amaritans has had a busy year. Between 23 March 2020, the day the UK went into the first Covid-19 lockdown, and 20 December, volunteers from the suicide prevention charity answered a call for help every seven seconds, providing support more than 1.7m times and spending over one million hours on phone and email conversations. The charity also launched a self-help app, and, in collaboration with Mind, Shout, Hospice UK and the Royal Foundation, introduced a new service, Our Frontline, giving targeted support to NHS and other keyworkers. Yet, despite growing demand for its support, volunteer numbers fell by up to a third at one point largely because of selfisolation and social distancing measures in its 201 branches. So, have the past few months felt like a kind of baptism of fire for Julie Bentley, who joined as chief executive in November 2020? On the contrary, she says. Obviously, its a bit challenging joining an organisation during lockdown when you are stuck in your spare bedroom and cant go out and meet people. But I found that the charity had responded extraordinarily well to the pandemic. It had managed to sustain our 24/7 service throughout, which is a great testament to the central staff team who support our volunteers, and to the volunteers themselves, who stepped up and did extra shifts to keep the service running. Bentley is a highly experienced charity chief executive. Samaritans is her fifth top role in 17 years: most recently, she was at Action for Children, and before that she led Girlguiding, the Family Planning Association and the Suzy Lamplugh Trust. Shes been a trustee of Shelter and is currently co-vice-chair of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations. She began her career in the sector as a youth worker specialising in drug and alcohol addiction. A fierce advocate for those whose interests she represents, Bentley has waged a number of high-profile campaigns including calling for the right of people with learning disabilities to have a sex life, and helping girls speak out on issues including equality, sexual harassment and the medias distortion and sexualisation of young womens bodies. Difficult conversations What stands out about Julie for me is her courage, says Simon Blake, chief executive of charity Mental Health First Aid (England). She is always willing to have conversations others might find difficult. In late 2020, the two published a book, Sisters and Brothers, based on the deaths of their own much-loved siblings, with profits going to bereavement charity Cruse. They wrote the book to fill a void: We should talk more about end of life, to demystify it, to normalise it, wrote Bentley in a personal blog in December. She is also a fierce advocate for the sector. In an earlier blog, she upbraided chancellor Rishi Sunak for his use of the word gentle in relation to charities. She wrote: On a daily basis, charities are supporting women terrorised by abusive partners; they are caring for people in the final stages of terminal illness; they are supporting people considering ending their own life; they are protecting children who have suffered unimaginable abuse; and, not least, they are feeding people who otherwise would be going hungry because of the abject inequities in our country. These are not gentle matters. They are hard, cruel, painful, unfair, messy and ugly matters and it requires strong, determined, driven, resilient people to respond to them. Passionate about justice and equity, Bentley chooses her roles carefully. I only go into charities where I genuinely believe in what they do and to which I have something valuable to add, she says. She also thinks carefully about when to leave. I am privileged to be a custodian for a period of time, during which I have a job to do, and when I feel Ive done it, it is time to hand over the baton. Shes a long-time admirer of Samaritans: To be able to support people when they are really struggling emotionally, and help them feel more optimistic and hopeful, just by listening to them, is very powerful. How does Bentley see her job here? Ive not come in with some amazing eureka vision; I want to build on the momentum that already exists, she says. Samaritans rebranded in 2019 in an effort to appeal to younger 22 Impact ISSUE 33 2021_pp22-25_Profile.indd 22 26/03/2021 15:42