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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate NEWS NOW OSF project translating Bard into modern English stirs international debate ... Roseburg shooting victim describes gunman's rampage ... Guest Opinion: Plaza fencing is ugly and wasteful ... OSF project translating Bard into modern English stirs international debate ... Roseburg shooting victim describes gunman's rampage ... Guest Opinion: Plaza fencing is ugly and wasteful ... ASHLAND RUNS ON VOLUNTEERS Volunteers necessary to keep Community Works working Comment By Mary I. Coombs DailyTidings.com By Mary I. Coombs Posted Oct. 6, 2015 at 7:44 PM By Mary I. Coombs Posted Oct. 6, 2015 at 7:44 PM » Social News Community Works (“CW”) is the inspiration for this column. I can’t help liking the name of this nonprofit: the community works because we as a community all work to make it so. I will focus here on the programs under the department of Victim Services, which provides services to survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence and stalking and their families. Many of these programs are designed to make use of volunteers. Indeed, they rely on volunteers. The organization has about 100 people who provide volunteer services each year; they can definitely make good use of more. Let me first lay out some of the specific programs and what roles volunteers can play in each. Dunn House is the shelter for domestic violence and sexual assault survivors and their families in Jackson County. It is both a residence and a site for connecting its residents with services and support. Volunteers can interact with residents both informally and in helping them set goals, create action plans and safety plans and connect them to other resources in the county. They can also spend time with the children, help with paperwork and with cleaning and preparing rooms for new residents. CW runs children’s groups for the children of domestic violence survivors, both at Dunn House and in the community, in the evenings. Volunteers can work with staff to run these groups. All the other opportunities are limited to adult volunteers; however, teens (16-17) can also volunteer for the children’s groups. CW also runs the HelpLine (541-779-4357) for the county. Since it is the only helpline, it responds to all manner of calls, as it has for over 40 years: domestic and sexual abuse, suicide prevention, need for food or shelter. The Helpline is staffed 24/7 and the volunteers must both know how to respond to callers, often in crisis and be able to connect them to services. A very large percentage of those who answer the Helpline are volunteers. People who fear repeated sexual violence, domestic violence or stalking can seek orders of protection from the court. CW volunteers, along with a paid staff person, have an office at the courthouse where they help these people with the needed paperwork, may guide them to thinking through a safety plan and provide emotional support when the applicant appears before the judge. Similarly, volunteers work with the Sexual Assault Victim Services, helping survivors who reach out to think through the options they have, to connect them to other resources and to provide emotional support in a difficult time. CW recognizes that providing some of these services can be difficult for volunteers; for those who want to help but not interact directly with survivors, there is always office work and paperwork: taking on that burden frees up staff and other volunteers for the more emotionally draining tasks. Finally, there is also a Hispanic services program, which in effect ensures access to other services for those who are fluent only in Spanish. Volunteers must themselves be fully bilingual. As you can imagine, all these opportunities require volunteers with sufficient comprehension of the sociology of domestic violence or sexual assault, understanding of its impact on survivors, techniques for working with survivors and knowledge of the resources available to them. Thus volunteers for these positions must do a 40-hour training, which will provide much of this information. The training is offered three times a year. The next training will take place Oct. 17-18 and 24-25. Volunteers must also pass a background check. Because it is important that there not be gaps in services, CW asks volunteers to commit to at least one four-hour session per week and to do so for at least six months. The psychological rewards of helping people in need, often in crisis, are high, however. If you think you might want to volunteer, you can call the volunteer coordinator, Kim Caplan at 541-779-2393, ext. 212, or email her at [email protected]. If you want to know more about what Community Works does, you can go to their website, www.community-works.org . Mary I. Coombs’ column on local nonprofit organizations appears every three weeks. Email questions and suggestions to [email protected]. By Mary I. Coombs DailyTidings.com By Mary I. Coombs Posted Oct. 6, 2015 at 7:44 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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