VOLUNTEERISM AND VICTIM ADVOCACY By Elisa Ziglar Volunteerism is at its height in America these days and many different types of community agencies and programs are finding ways to incorporate the use of volunteers. Non-profits, grant funded government programs, and other service agencies short on both funds and staff can find many ways to utilize the service of volunteers. Managing a volunteer program can be labor-intensive and time-consuming. I have recruited, trained, and supervised volunteers at three separate agencies in which I have been employed over the past ten years. My experiences have taught me a lot, as have the seminars and training sessions I have attended to learn more about volunteer programs and their management. I would like to share some of my expertise with you. The Athens County Victim Assistance Program relies heavily on volunteer support. We have been extremely successful in recruiting, training, and utilizing volunteers to perform a variety of duties crucial to the operation of our program. A great deal of our success has been in our good fortune to have two schools of higher learning located in our county, Ohio University and Hocking College. While utilizing students as volunteers does have some pitfalls, our program has been less than successful in attracting community members to work with us. I have identified several reasons for this:
RECRUITMENT Volunteer recruitment is an ongoing process, but major efforts are made during the Fall and Spring academic quarters for students. A public service announcement is distributed to all local media to inform the public about upcoming training. The announcement lists the dates and times of the training sessions, briefly describes the duties of volunteers in very general terms, and explains what individuals can gain by volunteering with our agency. We have no local television stations, but good relationships with the three newspapers and the seven radio stations insure that the public service announcement is printed and aired often. Notices of upcoming training are distributed to instructors of targeted departments of Ohio University and Hocking College: psychology, social work, counselling, political science, family studies, communications, journalism, women's studies, criminology, police science, corrections, and human services. Community service is an important part of university learning and instructors are happy to announce the upcoming training and encourage interested students to join our volunteer staff. Current volunteers remind their instructors to make the announcements and talk about their volunteer experience with classmates. Many instructors even offer credit to the students for their volunteer work. Flyers announcing our need for volunteers and the upcoming training are posted around both campuses and in the Courthouse. These flyers are posted, by volunteers, in both classroom and dormitory buildings on campus. Sometimes they are also posted in local fast food restaurants and other downtown businesses. While we continue this practice, it is our least effective means of advertising for volunteers. Our agency participates annually in volunteer fairs at both colleges and we work closely with the local Center for Community Service (a department of Ohio University that serves the entire community and provides work-study students) and the Community Action Agency. Each year we accept one or two young volunteers from the Summer Youth Employment Training Program (a part of JTPA programming). While there are many duties that I would not assign to a volunteer under the age of 18, I believe that it is important for young people to develop a sense of community service. We have had several high school volunteers and are excited as one of the local high schools is currently developing an organized volunteer program. Once prospective volunteers are recruited, it is important to perform interviews with each of them; we do these initial interviews by telephone. This allows prospective volunteers to ask questions about the agency and its volunteer program. It also allows agency staff to screen the prospects and weed out any that may not be appropriate, such as criminal offenders and victims who have not had time to heal. Our standard is that a victim must wait at least one year, but preferably two, before working with our agency to give to others the help they received. It also enables our staff to get to know prospective volunteers and to discuss, from the start, the concept of confidentiality. Finally, it is during this interview that we tell people where training will be held. I have found that about 40% of prospects weed themselves out at this stage and there have been very few instances that I have had to tell someone they could not volunteer with our agency at the time. Most who do not follow through state it is because of time conflicts with the lengthy training or the emotional intensity of the work we do. TRAINING Volunteer training with our agency (and many others in our community) is held twice a year, in October and April. Some volunteers, specifically those working for academic credit, may begin at other times of the year and complete the next available training program or limit themselves to clerical or child care duties. Training is time consuming and labor intensive for a small staff that has many other duties, thus the only twice a year schedule. Our twenty hour training program is registered by the Ohio Advocacy Network. The training sessions are spread over a two week period in four three hour evenings and one full eight hour day on a weekend. Training sessions are mandatory for all new volunteers and student interns, but missed sessions may be made up if arranged in advance or a reasonable explanation in provided. While it is important that volunteers complete the training, and the group process is an important part of building an effective team of advocates, I have learned that flexibility is important. The content of the training sessions is evolving and updated, but otherwise unchanging, although the order subjects are presented may change due to availability of speakers. Training segments cover topics such as victims' rights and services, domestic violence, sexual assault, child victims, homicide and DUI, assault, property crimes, compensation, Victim Impact Statements, cultural sensitivity with a focus on the local Appalachian culture, reflective listening, etc. The process of training includes videos, lectures and presentations by local prosecutors, judges and victim service practitioners, personal exploration exercises, and role plays. More experienced volunteers and interns help present information during the training sessions and assist with small group role playing; their presence is valuable because trainees want to hear about individual volunteers' experiences so they will know what to expect and gain assurance. Training manuals, which are updated prior to each training seminar, are provided at the start of the 20 hour training. These manuals are in three ring binders and volunteers can take them home. Everything the trainee needs is in the binder such as application form, confidentiality affirmation, volunteer contract, and timesheet. Once completed, these forms become part of the volunteer's personnel file at the agency. Applications, including references must be turned in by the end of the second training session. At the completion of training, those who want to keep the "guts" of their manuals must duplicate the contents and return the full binders to the agency. All videos shown during training sessions are available to be loaned to trainees to be studied at home, and we have a lending library of books for those who are interested in learning more. Volunteers are a valuable resource and keeping them happy is important. For many agencies such a ours, each volunteer hour is credited as in-kind match toward grant funding, making our volunteers even more valuable than just the labor they provide. Training must be productive, but also relaxed and fun. Remember, this is the way trainees learn about your agency and acceptable behavior if they think your staff (trainers) are boring and stuffy they are less likely to complete the training and come to work for you. We provide refreshments at each training session and take frequent breaks. We hold training sessions in the cramped quarters of our office so that trainees learn that they must get used to working closely with each other and that we all must get along. Fun must be a part of not only the training process, but also working with the agency. PUTTING VOLUNTEERS TO WORK At the end of the training program volunteers complete several documents that become part of their "personnel file". Confidentiality Statements are signed and witnessed so that all volunteers document an understanding of the importance of confidentiality and that a violation of confidentiality will result in immediate termination. Additionally, each volunteer signs a "contract" that specifies what is expected of volunteers and what they can expect in return. For example, our expectations of volunteers are similar to those of our paid staff - that they will maintain confidentiality, be dependable, act and dress appropriately when representing our agency, call in advance if they cannot work their scheduled shift, honestly and accurately document their hours worked, etc. In return volunteers can expect us to treat them with respect and appreciation, provide them with ongoing supervision and opportunity for additional training, and act as future references for employment or graduate school. Volunteers who complete training are asked to work a minimum of three hours each week and to make a commitment of at least one academic year to the program. Volunteers who are using their work with our agency as internship or practicum placements are expected to work according to their academic requirements sometimes up to 15 hours per week. Scheduling is flexible and for the most part, volunteers choose the shift they want to work; this helps to insure that they will come in regularly and will have the opportunity to perform the duties in which they are most interested (those who are most interested in court monitoring schedule times to match the heaviest docket). Throughout the course of their service with the agency, each volunteer is encouraged to schedule different shifts to receive the full range of experiences the agency has to offer. During their first quarter of working with the agency, new volunteers perform basic work such as clerical duties, assisting with fundraising and community fairs, and monitoring Municipal Court along with more experienced volunteers or staff persons. As volunteers become more experienced and obtain a fuller understanding of our work as advocates, they move on to other duties such as monitoring Juvenile and Common Pleas Court. They may also sit in on meetings with victims, accompany victims to court hearings, and assist victims with Victims' Compensation applications and Victim Impact Statements. A few volunteers and some interns work more directly with clients and are assigned some cases of their own. The direct, face-to-face contact with crime victims is very frightening to volunteers they often state that they are afraid of providing incorrect information or of saying the wrong thing. Frequently, I am more confident in the volunteer's skills than they are and I have to urge them into new arenas of experience. Recently, I became frustrated with so many volunteers asking me so many questions; it seemed that all I ever accomplished was keeping them all busy. In response, we asked each volunteer to choose specific duties at which to become expert. Volunteers were able at the start of the academic quarter to choose their areas: sending contact letters to victims, processing Victim Impact Statements to the Court, maintaining tracking lists of pending cases and pulling cases for the following week, file and resource maintenance, restitution determinations, monitoring Juvenile Court (a favorite amongst my staff), monitoring Municipal Court, phoning victims to notify them of continuation dates of Court hearings, etc. Next quarter, each volunteer will have the option to continue his/her same duties or to move on to try something new. Some duties required working certain shifts so some juggling was done, but so far this is working well and I feel less overwhelmed and am more appreciative of and able to enjoy the volunteers. SUPERVISION As a small agency, we do not have a volunteer coordinator and the duties associated with supervising volunteers falls on me as the Director. We have recently implemented a hierarchy of paid and volunteer staff so that every volunteer knows to whom they can go with questions as they perform their duties. This, in addition to assigning regular duties, has made my job a bit easier since volunteers can go to other staff or more experienced volunteers with questions. Nonetheless, I (or another staff person) and at least one assistant prosecutor are available at all times to answer questions as they arise. Volunteers receive constant supervision. Unless they have been with the agency for more than 1+ years, they are never left alone in the office. If briefly alone, they do not have to take phone calls unless they feel comfortable doing that alone (we have a Clerical Assistant who answers our phones and takes messages). I review all work completed by other staff and volunteers, checking for consistency of service and documentation and providing feedback. This is a time consuming task as administrative and supervisory duties are only a small part of my job responsibilities (I still maintain a full client caseload and handle most Common Pleas cases myself), but it is integral to insure that volunteers grow in their positions and the quality of service to clients is maintained at a satisfactory level. Since evaluation is an ongoing process, only those volunteers who are working for academic credit or with whom there are problems are formally evaluated on a quarterly or annual basis. Volunteers maintain detailed time sheets in their personnel files that enable me to later go back and review the types of duties they performed when, years later, I am asked to provide references. I am grateful to be able to say that I have only ever had to terminate two volunteers for violation of confidentiality; those that do poor work usually don't like the work and therefore leave on their own. We try to regularly show our appreciation for our volunteers. No matter how busy I am, I try to take at least 5 minutes of each volunteer's weekly shift to chat with them about their lives and address any problems (I tend toward mothering all these college students) they may be having. I am lenient in allowing them to eat lunch while they are working and, as long as they notify me, miss shifts during exam times. We buy the volunteers small appreciation gifts and always keep candy and snacks in the office for them. Each year, we have at least one party so that we can all have the opportunity to get to know each other away from the office. Volunteering as a Victim Advocate can be rewarding and the volunteer opportunity provides new skills and a wealth of experiences for student interns and volunteers. Feedback from volunteers tells me that they find their experiences fulfilling, educational, fun and rewarding. I am rewarded with loyal, hard-working, and happy volunteers who are willing to go the extra mile to help the program. Once in a while I am fortunate to get a motivated volunteer who is a freshman and stays with the program for four years; I have even had volunteers change their career goals due to their experiences with our program. I am often thrilled to see volunteers decide to go on to law school if only all attorneys had experience working with victims our criminal justice system would likely be very different.
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