Publication Date: April 2009

Filling a Void—Origins of the Program

• Program Elements
• Replication Efforts

Building Partnerships

• District Attorney
• Law Enforcement Agencies
• Faith-Based Organizations
• Other Key Partners
• Broadening the Network

What Good Samaritans Do

• Coming to the Aid of Victims

Volunteers: Recruiting,
Screening, and Training

• Recruitment
• Screening
• Training
• Coordination and Activation
• Measuring Results
• Core Values

Planning Your Program

• Lessons Learned
• The Planning Process

Training Volunteers

• Using This Training Guide
• Planning Your Training
• Action Plan
• General Guidelines for Trainers
• Teaching Adult Learners
• Getting Started

Module 1: Program Overview

• Crime in America
• What Do Victims Want?
• The Effective Good Samaritan
• Ethics and Confidentiality
• Commitment
• Values Clarification Exercises

Module 3: Basic Skills for Volunteers

• The Basics of Good Communication
• Active Listening
• Five Basic Listening Skills
• Useful Phrases for Crisis Intervenors

Module 4: Providing Services

• Putting Skills to Work
• The Good Samaritans First
  Aid Kit
• General Guidelines for
  Volunteers
• Serving Specific Victims
• Sample Job Descriptions
• Keeping Track (forms and
  paperwork)

Module 5: Self-Care

• Managing Your Own Stress
• The Big Picture
• The Cure: Refueling

Resources

• Forms and Handouts

Module 2: The Victim Experience

Factors Affecting Recovery

Factors aiding recovery

• Support from intimates
• Positive self-esteem
• Support from systems (police, prosecutors, medical providers, legal professionals, victim service providers)
• Opportunity to freely discuss the crime and the associated emotions
• Successful recovery from grief
• Insight
• Action-oriented behaviors
• Ability to identify and express emotions
• Realistic expectations of self and system
• Objective attribution of blame

Factors inhibiting recovery

• Prior victimization
• Negative self-esteem
• Poor social support
• Simultaneous problems (family, financial, work, school, etc.)
• Recurring problems, such as drug or alcohol abuse
• Degree of violence
• Relationship to perpetrator (stranger or acquaintance)
• Increased physical ailments, possibly psychosomatic
• Depression
• Suicidal behavior
• Psychotic behavior (including senile dementia)
• Misdiagnosis by therapist or physician