Volunteer Victim Advocates needed

VOLUNTEER VICTIM ADVOCATES NEEDED
FOR THE BOULDER COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
Posted by Laurie Bullock Tuesday, February 10, 2009

The Boulder County Sheriff’s Office is seeking volunteers to serve as Victim Advocates. Advocates work with Boulder County law enforcement to provide assistance to victims of crime, accidents, trauma, and critical events. Working as a victim advocate offers the opportunity to touch the lives of others. Victim advocacy provides an invaluable source of support and information for people in our community who have had their worlds dramatically altered by traumatic events.

Victim advocates – as well as the people they assist – benefit from this demanding work. Helping others in crisis provides deep satisfaction for advocates as they offer compassion, support, resources, and information. Many advocates feel they gain valuable self-knowledge and insight as they help others.

Our free 40-hour training course covers a wide variety of topics that can be used in everyday life as well as in crises. The training course includes such topics as crisis intervention, listening skills, victimization, grief and loss, and domestic violence. A commitment of one year is required.

In 2009 the training will be held March 31- April 25 – on Tuesday evenings and Saturdays during the day. The application deadline is March 6, 2009.

Volunteers are needed for both on-scene and outreach advocate programs. Visit our website to see these volunteer job descriptions. Bilingual volunteers are always needed.

For an application or more information, contact Donna Foster at dfoster@bouldercounty.org or 303-441-3656, or visit our website at www.bouldersheriff.org. On the website click on Employment at the top, scroll down to Volunteer Opportunities, then scroll down to On-scene or Outreach for more information.