Volunteers Needed For LBPD's New Trauma Intervention Program

LONG BEACH, CA — The Long Beach Police Department is looking for volunteers for their new partnership with the Trauma Intervention Program, which helps people in the aftermath of incidents such as traffic accidents, crimes or deaths of family members, LBPD announced Thursday.

"When a crime occurs, ensuring the safety and wellbeing of victims has always been a priority for our department," LBPD Chief Robert Luna said. "Our partnership with TIP will provide additional counseling and peer support resources to our community members during their time of need."

The Trauma Intervention Program, which was founded in 1985, has 15 affiliates serving more than 250 cities across the nation.

In each affiliate, police, fire and hospital personnel will request local volunteers respond to traumatic incidents to provide emotional aid and practical support to victims of the traumatic events, as well as to their families, in the first few hours after the event.

"The first few hours after a crisis situation has occurred are very confusing for everyone involved," Wayne Fortin, program founder, said.

"TIP volunteers provide the necessary temporary support to survivors of tragedy until they are able to depend on family members, friends and others," Fortin said. "This support is very important to survivors."

TIP provides an intensive 55-hour training for volunteers with continual training and education. Volunteers respond to a wide range of traumatic incidents, such as traffic accidents, witness to a crime, death of a family member or a disoriented elder.

The volunteers provide support including a comprehensive resource guide, bilingual service, teen peer support or comfort dogs.

No experience is necessary to be become a volunteer, but attendance at a training academy is required. The academy training dates can be found at www.TIPofLongBeach.org. For more information, call 562-270-1246 or email TIPINCCEO@aol.com.

City News Service contributed to this post