2008 Woodie Awards
Volunteer opportunities with UASA
Cheyenne Lee, Staff Writer
Issue date: 2/12/08 Section: News
"Without our [SSU] volunteers, this [Prevention Department] and most of UASA just wouldn't survive," said United Against Sexual Assault (UASA) Bilingual Prevention Educator Daniela Bravo-Simon sitting back in a chair of her northern Santa Rosa office.
UASA, whose website bills its 24-hour crisis line as the "only one of its kind" in the county, invests heavily in SSU. UASA Intervention Manager Bobbi Turner said that 75 percent of her volunteers are from SSU, ranging from psychology majors to women and gender studies students.
"UASA is not only something that is really needed; it's also a great place to work," Turner added to the list of internships and college credit as reasons for the lure of SSU students. "You are treated with respect and dignity because that is how they want us to treat survivors and victims of sexual assault."
At UASA, it is a semester long commitment. Volunteers go through a mandated 21 hours of training. They also attend several additional training sessions during one semester's service.
Volunteers need to be comfortable speaking in front of an audience. They give four presentations a month and have a question and answer session after each presentation.
"What we do is go around to schools from elementary all the way into college and give talks and presentations about sexual assault," explained Bravo-Simon.
All volunteers are mandated reporters, meaning they report to Child Protective Services any reports of violence from minors.
UASA would like to dig deeper into SSU and have a more substantial impact on the student body. Turner would like a UASA branch office on SSU, staffed with a mixture of UASA personnel and volunteers. The staff would not be mandated reporters. Instead, they would provide an environment to sexual assault victims to discuss important issues without the fear of being reported without expressed permission from them.
"There is no place on campus where a survivor can go and talk to somebody confidentially," said Turner. "If you talked to me about any kind of sexual assault issue… and you didn't want it reported but you didn't know what your next step should be, anything you tell me I can't tell anybody unless you give me written permission to do it."
UASA, whose website bills its 24-hour crisis line as the "only one of its kind" in the county, invests heavily in SSU. UASA Intervention Manager Bobbi Turner said that 75 percent of her volunteers are from SSU, ranging from psychology majors to women and gender studies students.
"UASA is not only something that is really needed; it's also a great place to work," Turner added to the list of internships and college credit as reasons for the lure of SSU students. "You are treated with respect and dignity because that is how they want us to treat survivors and victims of sexual assault."
At UASA, it is a semester long commitment. Volunteers go through a mandated 21 hours of training. They also attend several additional training sessions during one semester's service.
Volunteers need to be comfortable speaking in front of an audience. They give four presentations a month and have a question and answer session after each presentation.
"What we do is go around to schools from elementary all the way into college and give talks and presentations about sexual assault," explained Bravo-Simon.
All volunteers are mandated reporters, meaning they report to Child Protective Services any reports of violence from minors.
UASA would like to dig deeper into SSU and have a more substantial impact on the student body. Turner would like a UASA branch office on SSU, staffed with a mixture of UASA personnel and volunteers. The staff would not be mandated reporters. Instead, they would provide an environment to sexual assault victims to discuss important issues without the fear of being reported without expressed permission from them.
"There is no place on campus where a survivor can go and talk to somebody confidentially," said Turner. "If you talked to me about any kind of sexual assault issue… and you didn't want it reported but you didn't know what your next step should be, anything you tell me I can't tell anybody unless you give me written permission to do it."