Good listeners needed for victim services
Volunteer post can be ‘very rewarding’
It was Christmas morning when the call came in from parents concerned they could not reach their son at his apartment.
Hamilton police would soon find him deceased and John Stanley was the victim services volunteer who went with officers to give the parents the heartbreaking news.
“The hardest part was it was Christmas morning, there were presents in front of the tree unopened ... it was pretty traumatic,” he said, before taking a minute to collect himself.
This is one of the cases that still sticks with Stanley from his six years as a volunteer with the victim services branch. But with that trauma also comes the knowledge you’re helping people in what is probably their darkest moments. In one case, the father of another young man who had died was so moved by the work that Stanley did as a volunteer that he became a victim services volunteer himself two years later. This was especially important for Stanley because most of the time volunteers never know what happens to the families after they leave.
Hamilton’s victim services branch operates 24/7 and provides on-scene crisis intervention. They have four full-time staff and more than 80 volunteers who work on-call. The office is in the midst of its annual recruitment looking for 40 to 45 new volunteers, said Susan Double, administrator of the victim services branch.
Applicants must be at least 21, have a valid driver’s licence and access to a vehicle, and be available to work four, eight-hour on-call shifts each month. But, more than that, volunteers need to be open-minded, compassionate, empathetic, communityminded and good listeners.
There is a minimum one year commitment, but some volunteers have been with victim services for upwards of 25 years, Double said. Many are recent retirees, but some are also younger students or professionals looking for a future in law enforcement.
There are 12 training sessions from January to March of each year, where volunteers learn from experts including detectives and psychologists.
They learn that the job is really about supporting victims in whatever they might need in that moment. That might mean listening as someone talks or colouring with a child while their parent gives a statement to police. They also respond by phone.
Anne Plessl said she had been thinking about volunteering for 20 years after seeing a friend, who went through a traumatic experience, helped by a victim services volunteer.
When she recently retired from McMaster University, she seized the opportunity and applied, beginning her volunteer work in April. Since then, she says she’s been called to everything from family dealing with suicides, to the loss of a child, to an unexpected death.
People she helps are often very thankful, she said.
“I’ve volunteered all my life this has been one of the most meaningful things I’ve ever done in my life,” Plessl said.
For Stanley, it was also about finding meaningful volunteer work after retiring from the financial services industry. For the first three years, he worked as a direct-service volunteer going to calls. Then he became a team leader, working to dispatch volunteers, give guidance, debrief and write up reports.
“It’s very rewarding, because you know you’ve done something, helped people through the most difficult time of their life,” he said. “Even if you just sit there and listen to them talk.”
Anyone interested in applying to become victim services directservice volunteer is asked to apply through the City of Hamilton careers website by Oct. 12.