Middle Way House seeking new volunteers to boost staff

Middle Way House, Inc. will be holding a volunteer training session Saturday morning for anyone interested in one of the 20 volunteer programs offered by the women's shelter.\nThe eight-hour training day will provide an overview of the effects of domestic violence and Middle Way's mission against it.\n"I think that most of us have an ethic that we're kind of an onwards and upwards society where things are generally getting better," said Colleen Yeakle, a spokeswoman for Middle Way House. "And I certainly think that too, or it would be difficult to do this work. But it's fair to examine -- why is this problem so persistent? Why is this so hard to change?" \nThe training service will be held this Saturday at the First United Methodist Church at the intersection of 4th and Lincoln streets, across from the downtown post office. It will last from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with an hour break for lunch.\nThe session will feature several outside speakers, including local police officers and prosecutors, and will focus on what the community can do to help solve this problem.\n"Really it seeks to challenge the basic assumptions about violence against women," said sophomore Mallory Deckard. Deckard completed volunteer training in spring 2005.\nA police officer is scheduled to discuss the protocol for a police officer being called to the scene of a domestic violence dispute. The officer will talk about the options and responsibilities a victim has in terms of arresting the batterer, said Yeakle. \nA local prosecutor will speak about the options and outcomes a victim faces when considering prosecution in the case of domestic violence. Middle Way will also educate volunteers on the legal resources it provides, including help with protective orders, company at court and other measures.\n"We try to have a great collection of voices from professionals working in the field of domestic violence to talk about what feels great and what's challenging about their work, and where we need to go from here and the role that all of the people who volunteer in our agency can play in it," Yeakle said.\nMiddle Way has a history of training over 300 volunteers a year. Yeakle said about 85 percent of volunteers are affiliated in some way with the \nUniversity.\nCurrently, volunteers outnumber staff 12 to one. \nMany of those students or university volunteers will be leaving during the summer. Middle Way representatives hope to boost numbers of volunteer with this training session to make up for those who are leaving.\n"It's definitely one of the better programs in the nation because it focuses on empowerment," Deckard said. "The women that come to them are challenged to make their own decisions, which will promote their own independence and help them to stand up for themselves." \nYeakle said there is a reason that many volunteers come to this line of work.\n"We all exist within a context of sexism," Yeakle said. "We encourage people who do come to us because its very personal that they process that experience and are in a position of strength to give good care, instead of a position where they could be re-traumatized."\nDeckard agrees that people have to set aside their own experiences. Much of the training revolves around making sure that the victim is put first by not relating one's own experiences to the victim's, she said.\nSome of the positions Middle Way House has for volunteers are in legal advocacy, adult education and building healthy relationships programs. Volunteers also help with the Jump Start Program, cooking warm food for residents, the Male Allies in Violence Prevention Program and the Share Store, a Middle Way version of Goodwill. \nMale Allies is a developing program of male volunteers who tour area schools speaking out against domestic violence and also serve as on-scene advocates at Bloomington Hospital.\n"Our on-scene advocacy program is our advocates trained in sexual violence who are at the hospital 24-7 for anyone who requests them," Yeakle said. "We now have two male advocates which is great. When a victim goes in for a rape, she often has distraught fathers, brothers, boyfriends there with her and a male advocate can \nbetter connect with them, I think." \nMiddle Way's on-scene advocacy program has been one of its most appreciated programs. The advocates are strictly trained to advise victim's about their legal options, but not to tell them what to do. Many other programs teach their advocates to tell victim's what they should do, but Deckard thinks that programs like that perpetuate the system of control that victims experience when they suffer in domestic violence.\n"This is a really great thing that they do," Deckard said. \nApril is Sexual Violence Awareness Month. Materials that educate against sexual violence and encourage men specifically to speak out against sexual violence have been distributed all over campus at dorms and libraries. \nFor more information about Middle Way House resources, visit its Web site at www.bloomington.in.us/~mwhouse. Other useful Web sites include the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network site at www.rainn.org and the My Strength site, www.mystrength.org, which is dedicated to men speaking out against rape. Students can also visit the on-campus resource for sexual assault services, Sexual Assault Crisis Services, at www.stopcampusrape.com.