Community volunteers can help victims of crime and other trauma with the Pima County Attorney’s Office Victim Services Division.
Two information sessions in August will prepare volunteer victim advocates to respond to individual crime scenes and larger tragedies such as the Jan. 8, 2011, shooting, according to press materials.
Advocates provide victims with emotional support along with information about other resources that will assist in their healing process.
“The volunteers are dealing with people on the worst day of their lives,” said Laura Penny, the director of the Victim Services Division. “They have been through some kind of traumatic event, and our volunteers are there to help them process that event and figure out next steps and understand if there is going to be prosecution, what that process will look like.”
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Penny added that in 2015, volunteers put in more than 20,000 hours, saving the county the cost of paying a staff member about $20 for each of those hours.
Potential volunteers must attend one of two information sessions from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 9, or Tuesday, Aug. 16, at the Tucson Police Department substation, 1310 W. Miracle Mile. An application and interview will follow the information session. Then volunteers will attend the Crisis Intervention and Victimology Training Tuesday and Thursday evenings starting Tuesday, Sept. 6.
For more information, call 740-5525.
Contact reporter Johanna Willett at jwillett@tucson.com or 573-4357. On Twitter: @JohannaWillett
Johanna Willett | This Is Tucson
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