Volunteer Sexual Assault Response Advocates Wanted

At YWCA Delaware’s Sexual Assault Response Center (SARC), we’re looking for compassionate individuals to join our team of volunteer advocates. Our advocates support survivors by staffing our 24/7 crisis hotline from their homes or from one of our two centers located in New Castle, DE or Georgetown, DE and providing in-person advocacy services at hospitals, police stations, and courts throughout New Castle and Sussex counties. Shifts are six hours, with a commitment of at least four shifts per month.

As a volunteer advocate, you’ll provide information and resources, normalize callers in crisis, and give unbiased emotional support to survivors of sexual assault and their significant other, families or friends.

Volunteer advocates are the backbone of our agency and provide a round-the-clock safety net for those in crisis. Through training and ongoing education, our volunteers enhance existing skills and learn new ones to offer professional and compassionate crisis-intervention services for the community.

Qualifications:

  • 18 years of age or older

  • Available secure internet and computer (No public wifi’s)

  • Available transportation

  • Able to respond in person at the hospital, police station or court appearances in one of New Castle or Sussex Counties

  • Available telephone with call waiting or two phones

  • Must be able to able to pass a background check (fee will be reimbursed)

  • Volunteers must be willing to participate in medical or legal advocacy trainings. Volunteers for the advocacy program are required to attend a total of 50-hour comprehensive training program, scheduled on evenings and weekends and online to accommodate most schedules. The training thoroughly prepares volunteers to handle crisis calls and assist survivors of recent sexual assault at hospitals with SANE programs, law enforcement agencies and courts. Requires attending scheduled meetings featuring debriefing sessions and educational in-services to keep advocates up-to-date on new developments and provide ongoing support for this challenging role.

Interested? Fill out an application below.

Questions? Please contact Debbie Litten, Victim Services Director, at 302.650.2529 or dlitten@ywcade.org.