Rape Crisis Center Builds Intensive Team Training

The challenge:

Volunteers at the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center require significant training to help clients in sensitive situations.

The numbers:

The group has evolved from an all-volunteer program when it was created in 1973 to one that has 28 staff members, backed by about 150 volunteers who work more than 44,000 hours a year. Demand for volunteering opportunities significantly outstrips supply. In fiscal year 2013, requests to volunteer for the center came from 355 people, but only 80 spots were available.

Who the volunteers are:

Early on, the center used only female volunteers, mostly rape survivors, but it now accepts men and transgendered people as well. Many of the volunteers are graduate students or professionals from a range of fields.

How they are used:

Volunteers take hotline calls, meet rape survivors and accompany them to the hospital, and raise awareness about ways to prevent sexual assault. The group has used volunteers to analyze the prevalence of sexual violence in the Boston metropolitan area and tapped health-communications experts to help improve its messages, both to people who have been assaulted and to the public.

Cost savings:

The center estimates that it would need more than 22 full-time staff members, at a cost of $600,000 a year, to accomplish what the volunteers do.

How the group nurtures volunteerism:

• The volunteer program, which was previously supervised by the managing director, is now managed by the human-resources department to better coordinate the activities of paid and unpaid workers. A program assistant recruits volunteers and organizes their training, while other staff members coordinate the volunteer program.
• After initial training, volunteers are required to attend two educational sessions a month and must commit to at least one volunteer shift a week.
• Volunteers who provide services to survivors of sexual assault can discuss difficult cases with peer supervisors, volunteers who receive a small stipend. Volunteers also have access to a full-time staff member 24 hours a day.
• Volunteers participate in activities to learn more about the organization as a whole, not just the specific work they do for the center.

How it plans to accommodate more volunteers:

The group will soon allow volunteers to serve as “community ambassadors” after receiving a condensed program of eight hours of training on how to support survivors, talk about sexual violence, and promote measures to prevent it.

Source: Reimagining Service; Chronicle reporting