Rayon Dyer, Gleaner Writer

Black River, St. Elizabeth:

Thirty of the 63 partici-pants at the recent two-day workshop organised by the Ministry of Justice's Victim Support Unit in the parish of St. Elizabeth have signed up to become volunteers with the victim support programme.

The workshop, which was held at the St. Matthew's Anglican Church Hall in Santa Cruz, saw Osbourne Bailey, director of the victim support unit, and parish coordinators Nesta Hay and Diana Dawn-Binns as presenters.

In need of volunteers

Speaking in an interview with The Gleaner following the sessions, coordinator of the St. Elizabeth Victim Support Unit, Lyria Hutchinson, said the aim of the workshop was to recruit new volunteers to work with the programme.

She also noted that the parish unit was in need of volunteers to assist with the challenges that are associated with counseling persons.

"The recruited persons (volun-teers) would be assisting the unit in the areas of counselling for victims of crimes which include shooting as well as other forms of attacks. They will also help residents who happen to fall victim of other traumatic situations," Mrs. Hutchinson explained.

Among the topics dealt with by the presenters are basic counselling skills, grief coun-selling, counselling of sexually traumatised individuals and crime victims, as well as crisis management.

Participation certificates

At the end of the workshop, participants who completed all four sessions were given certificates of participation.

The participants were drawn from schools, churches, the business community, as well as clerical workers from within the parish.