Trauma Intervention Program Looking for Volunteers
Emotional First Aid Providers Needed

Community Counseling Center is recruiting compassionate citizen volunteers for its fourth training academy for Trauma Intervention Program of Portland, Maine (TIP). Training begins on Thursday, January 25th. Volunteers will be trained to help fellow citizens who are in distress as a result of having been the victim of a traumatic event in the immediate Portland, South Portland, Gorham and Westbrook areas. No prior experience is necessary. For more information, call Lynn Shattuck at 207-874-1030 extension 244, 207-874-1043 (TTY) or email tip@commcc.org.

TIP volunteers are called to emergency scenes by police officers, firefighters or hospital personnel to provide immediate onsite emotional and practical support like making necessary phone calls and connecting people with needed resources, distributing teddy bears, and holding hands with distraught victims. Volunteers provide their services to the Portland, South Portland, Gorham and Westbrook communities 24 hours a day, 365 days out of the year. In 2006, TIP volunteers responded to 97 crisis calls, helping 315 clients and 160 first responders.