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The Minimum Training Standard is mandated by
the Ministry of the Attorney General, Ontario Victim Services
Secretariat, and is intended to equip crisis support volunteers
with basic knowledge, skills and principles to support and
understand victims of crime and trauma. Training is a minimum of
40 hours, and ongoing training occurs at regular/monthly
volunteer meetings.
Click here for the full
March 2012 Volunteer
application package
Community partners, including Police Services
of Lanark County, SA/DV, Interval House and VWAP lend their
expertise to help volunteers understand victims needs and/or
state.
An educational component at regular volunteer meetings is
integral to maintaining the crisis support volunteer skills and
to provide updated information to the volunteers. Regular
volunteer meetings provide an opportunity for volunteers to
debrief in confidence following particularly distressing calls
and to seek direction, guidance and support from staff as to how
they could improve on their interventions.
Some examples of extra training and
developmental opportunities include critical incident stress
management, death notification, suicide intervention and
training on the management of large-scale community disasters.
During the course of training, crisis support volunteers learn
about the special role they have when intervening in another’s
life situation.
Crisis support volunteers learn:
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to provide emotional support, practical
assistance, information and referral to existing community
services where longer term help is needed or desired.
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to avoid giving advice, therapy or
counselling.
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to remain neutral at all times.
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to provide crisis support only and not to
become involved in the details of the occurrence or police
investigation.
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to deal with the impact of the incident
on the individual versus the details of the incident.
The training modules include information
about the dynamics of many of the incidents to which volunteers
can be asked to assist, which include but are not limited to:
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domestic violence
duty to report to CAS
sexual assault
grief and bereavement
homicide
death notification
home invasion
sudden infant death
multi-casualty disasters
family occurrences |
property crime
suicide
attempted suicide
elder abuse
missing persons
fire
traffic accidents
tragic circumstances
disaster |
To become an active crisis support volunteer,
individuals must be able to demonstrate that they have
sufficient learning and understanding to employ their skills in
crisis situations and must successfully complete an exam at the
end of the training.
Crisis support volunteers must commit
themselves to the service for a minimum of one year to preserve
continuity of service and to justify the time and financial
investment of screening and training.
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