BACKThe past year was filled with learning and growth for Klinic’s volunteer program, and it is such an exciting time to be doing this work! Every year, volunteers make immense contributions to our ability to offer our services: from our Board of Directors providing strategic direction and goals, to our Welcome Volunteers acting as the first point of contact, to our Crisis and Sexual Assault Crisis Program (SACP) volunteers supporting callers and community through some of their most emotionally difficult times. Outside of the formal responsibilities of these different roles, our volunteers also make an enormous contribution to the community and culture at Klinic bringing their kindness, optimism, and knowledge to share with us.
Inclusive intake
In the fall of 2023, four working groups began to review the intake and training process for applicants to the Crisis Program. Our goal was to increase accessibility and expand anti-oppressive learning and practices. This work was important in our continued efforts to make Klinic a welcoming and inclusive space, and responding to the reality that participating in this programming can be much harder for some people than others, for all kinds of reasons.
From this work, we have begun to implement:
- prioritizing applicants who self-identify as being part of a systemically marginalized community,
- providing a wider range of flexible options for attending our extensive Crisis Volunteer training program, and
- reviewing and updating information shared with new volunteer applicants to clarify the skills and expectations that are required in these roles, to be as open and thorough as possible.
Expanding training
Ongoing learning is an important aspect of the volunteer experience at Klinic. To provide more structured support in this growth, we developed workbooks for Crisis and SACP volunteers to track their goals and feedback, and to help bring more transparency and consistency to their experience. We are hopeful that these books will help volunteers feel more organized and supported in doing really complex and emotionally challenging work.
Crisis Program volunteers who are looking for new opportunities have the option to grow into Volunteer Shift Supervisor (VSS) roles, giving them the opportunity to learn supervisory skills and expand debriefing skills that are important in keeping the Crisis Room going 24/7. Revisions to this additional VSS training process were put into practice over the past year, which we hope will have a positive impact both on VSS trainees as well as the volunteers they go on to supervise.
We recognize the critical responsibility to offer education, supervision, and support to our volunteers. The experiences and skills they learn in the Crisis Room go beyond the carrel and prepare them to expand their roles and find employment in crisis counselling, whether in the Crisis Program or somewhere else in the community.
Informed by community
SACP volunteer intake and training processes also experienced significant growth this year. The training content underwent an extensive review from community to better reflect the realities of those impacted by sexual violence, while honouring those with lived experience and reflecting on best practices. New modules were also added in the training to cover creating safer spaces for gender and culturally diverse persons.
A more welcoming place
Our Welcome Volunteer Program has evolved since its inauguration in early 2020 and has grown to its greatest capacity this year with Welcome Volunteers supporting 21 shifts throughout the week! We have been fortunate to have such a wide range of people from many different communities involved in this program. Not only does the Welcome Volunteer Program provide new opportunities for many diverse persons to volunteer, but it also creates a more inviting experience for those accessing community health supports at Klinic. This is well worth celebrating!
Klinic staff and volunteers planting the community garden boxes on Furby Street
Finally, after inheriting some large garden boxes from a departing neighbor, one community volunteer took the opportunity to share their skills with Klinic as our gardener. Like many of our volunteers, they brought along extensive passion and knowledge related to their role, but also the voice of our community and the motivation to connect with others. This holistic way of looking at community health is possible because of our volunteers.
While each volunteer takes on different tasks, they all share the same deep root of growing and supporting connection with one another and with community. The stability of these deep roots provides and strong base for our inspiration to continue with this exciting and rewarding work into another year with our incredible volunteers.