{"id":2457870,"date":"2020-04-30T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-30T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=325056"},"modified":"2020-04-30T08:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-04-30T14:00:00","slug":"volunteers-needed-to-help-domestic-sexual-abuse-survivors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/volunteers-needed-to-help-domestic-sexual-abuse-survivors\/","title":{"rendered":"Volunteers needed to help domestic, sexual abuse survivors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong><em>Editor\u2019s Note: Sponsored content brought to you by Response<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"p402_hide\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/Hands-Heart-photo-1024x304.jpg\" alt class=\"wp-image-325057\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/Hands-Heart-photo-1024x304.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/Hands-Heart-photo-300x89.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/Hands-Heart-photo-768x228.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/Hands-Heart-photo-1536x456.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/Hands-Heart-photo-2048x607.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"><figcaption><strong><em>Response is looking for more local volunteers to be that listener and safety net for those in crisis.<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>The effects of domestic abuse or sexual assault can feel overwhelming for victims, especially when they feel trapped in an unsafe situation.<\/p>\n<p>Response, a nonprofit that helps victims of domestic and sexual abuse in the upper Roaring Fork Valley, provides services that offer safety, comfort and relief for victims who need support.<\/p>\n<p>In 2019, 181 clients&nbsp; used the services provided by Response, and 250 people called their 24 hour crisis helpline.<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\" readability=\"6\">\n<div class=\"row at-donation at-donation-mobile p-0\" readability=\"7\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AT-logo-white.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AT-logo-white.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\" onclick=\"handleDonationButtonClickMidArticle()\">Donate<\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Survivors of abuse who come to Response find a non-judgemental listener, referrals to other agencies, court and medical accompaniment and many other types of support. Many of these survivors were in the midst of a life-changing crisis and Response was their first stop on their journey of recovery.<\/p>\n<p>Response is looking for more local volunteers to help those in crisis. An online training for volunteer advocates begins May 11 (see factbox).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Domestic and sexual abuse in the valley<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>One in three women, and one in four men, in the United States have experienced some form of physical violence by an intimate partner, according to The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Those statistics ring true locally, according to Response staff.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a common misperception that victims fit into some kind of mold,\u201d said Response\u2019s Executive Director Shannon Meyer. \u201cAnyone could be experiencing abuse\u2014 your neighbor, colleague, family member \u2014 yet you may have no idea.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Another misperception is that domestic abuse is always physical \u2014 it can also be psychological, emotional and financial. Domestic abuse impacts people from every education level, socioeconomic class, race, gender, sexual orientation, single or married.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAbuse can touch anyone and victims don\u2019t fit into any obvious stereotypes,\u201d she said. \u201cA lot of times, people are surprised by that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Rising need for more local volunteers<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Response operates a 24\/7 crisis help line staffed almost entirely by trained volunteers who work 12-hour on-call shifts on weeknights and weekends.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>There were 250 calls to the helpline in 2019 \u2014 however Response has been struggling to get enough volunteers to cover shifts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s really crucial that we have trained volunteers taking shifts on the crisis line. Volunteers give our full time staff a break and keeps them, our most important resource, from burning out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Volunteers must complete a 30-hour training program that teaches volunteers everything they need to know to respond to a victim\u2019s immediate needs when they call in crisis. There is always a backup staff member on-call who can handle more complicated calls should a volunteer need assistance.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe training provided to become an advocate prepares you to support and empower those in crisis, as well as expands a culture that provides safe harbor to survivors of violence and abuse,\u201d said Greg Shaffran, a proud volunteer for Response since 2014.<\/p>\n<p>Response asks its volunteers to take two on-call shifts per month, so the commitment is relatively minimal. The requirement for the on-call shift is pretty simple: volunteers must remain within cell range during their shifts to ensure they don\u2019t miss a call. This means you might have to skip a backcountry skiing day or even areas of the ski resorts where cell phone coverage is unreliable. \u201cOur volunteer advocates serve a very important role of stabilizing a caller until they can connect with one of our staff advocates during office hours triaging until the callers can connect with our staff advocates,\u201d Meyer said. \u201cVolunteers need to be able to listen, understand the dynamics of what\u2019s happening, tell them what resources are available and help them into a safe position until they can talk to our staff.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/volunteers-needed-to-help-domestic-sexual-abuse-survivors-sponsored\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Editor\u2019s Note: Sponsored content brought to you by Response Response is looking for more local volunteers to be that listener and safety net for those in crisis. The effects of domestic abuse or sexual assault can feel overwhelming for victims, especially when they feel trapped in an unsafe situation. Response, a nonprofit that helps victims [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2457870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-17 21:02:27","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2457870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2457870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2457870\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2457870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2457870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2457870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}