Jasper was the star of the recent Continuous Development training day run by Horsham & Crawley Samaritans.
We were delighted to welcome Alistair, the Manager of Crawley Fire Station, to our Continuous Development session on Sunday 17th November. He gave us an insight into the work he and his team, OK9, perform, using their wellbeing and trauma support dogs.
OK9 provide emotional support for members of the emergency services following incidents that affect them profoundly. It seemed to us that this mirrored the role of our Leaders supporting our volunteers after difficult calls. The dogs often become a conversation starter and are a vessel for the entire interaction. There was great excitement when Jasper, his dog, stole the limelight - bringing Chris, our Branch Director to his knees!
Continuous Development training covered some important subjects for experienced Samaritans volunteers
After coffee (and cake!) there was enthusiastic and honest discussion around the subjects of the stepped approach and misuse of service calls. A number of the volunteers found it useful to revisit the stepped approach, and it was fascinating to discover the different responses between our male and female volunteers when recognising what may or may not be inappropriate.
Look out for our next continuous development session in the new year. Let us know if there is anything you would like us to include.
Anne and Brenda , Deputy Directors for Training