The Sexual Abuse and Assault Program of St. Francis Counseling Service is recruiting volunteers to work on the 24-hour hotline, and to provide support to rape victims at area hospitals. Applications are being accepted for the 12-week Confidential Sexual Violence Advocate Training Program, which begins Jan. 22 and concludes April 30. Sessions run from 6 to 9 p.m. and are held in Southern Regional High School, 90 Cedar Bridge Road, Manahawkin.
After completing the training, volunteers will be certified as rape advocates and will be on call to provide sexual assault survivors crisis intervention, information and referrals by phone and in person. Volunteers are asked to make a minimum of a one year commitment to the program and are required to undergo background checks.
Persons with related work life experience as well as those who are bilingual are encouraged to consider volunteering. Serving as an advocate also provides valuable experience for social work, counseling, psychology, sociology and criminal justice majors. There is no fee for the volunteer training.
To learn more about the program and to schedule an interview, call 609-494-1554. Applications may be found at www.stfranciscenterlbi.org.
Faith in Action • Is your parish, school or charitable agency in need of volunteers? Put out a call through The Monitor’s Faith In Action posting. Send all requests to Monitor-News@dioceseoftrenton.org. Type FAITH IN ACTION into the subject line.