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Volunteer with GLOV!
What can volunteers do?
Provide crisis counseling and support for survivors of anti-lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgendered (lgbt) violence or same-sex domestic violence survivors on our hotline. The hotline provides a safe place where survivors can call to talk about what has happened to them and find an informed and compassionate person who will listen, explore options, and identify community resources. Volunteers help to staff the hotline on evenings and other times as possible. Volunteers also collect the hate crime information from victims which is incorporated in the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Projects Annual Report on Hate Crimes.
Accompaniment:
GLOV volunteers accompany survivors of hate crimes to police stations, court proceedings, hospitals, etc. to provide emotional and informational support.
Presentations:
Through the Police Dialogue Project, GLOV staff and volunteers present sensitivity and diversity management trainings for the DC Police and Fire Departments. In addition, GLOV occasionally provides trainings for other organizations and community groups. If you are interested in education and public speaking, GLOV needs your assistance in developing various educational programs and taking them on the road.
Outreach and Education Activities in the LGBT Community:
Distribute fliers, staff vendor booths at community events such as Capital Pride and Black Pride.
Provide other publicity for upcoming events and GLOV services.
Occasional Projects:
GLOV often needs volunteers to expand referral and volunteer training manuals, provide legislative advocacy, and assist with grant writing, computer work, mailings, and other projects as necessary.
Volunteer Training
Crisis Counseling Training:
To work on the hotline and provide accompaniment, GLOV volunteers complete a crisis counseling training which enables them to provide concrete help to most community members trying to cope with the aftermath of being the target of a hate crime or surviving a domestic violence incident.
Crisis counseling training consists of one evening session per week for five weeks, and two half-day sessions on Saturdays. The training is heavily hands-on. From the very first session you don’t just listen, you participate – and get to practice the skills you’re being taught. The sessions are focused, practical, interesting – and fun! Among the skills volunteers will learn are active listening skills, basic counseling skills, the dynamics of anti-lgbt violence, same-sex domestic violence, and other bias crimes, and how to work with suicide threats and substance abuse on the hotline. As a trained crisis counselor, you will be able to help most callers vent their anger, frustration, pain, and fear. Those who complete the crisis counseling training are expected to commit to volunteering for at least six months on the hotline.
The Unexpected Bonus!
So give us a call today, or send us your volunteer application.
Let’s talk about how you can best help us keep our community safe.