SHN Referral Program Onboarding Volunteer

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71% of domestic violence survivors entering shelters report that their abusers have also targeted their pets. Almost half of all domestic violence survivors who have pets refuse to leave their abusers if it means leaving their pets behind. The ones who do are often plagued with feelings of anxiety and guilt, and end up returning to their abusers to protect their pets. Since so few domestic violence shelters accept pets, survivors who leave and take their pets with them face so many obstacles that some have been known to live in their cars with their pets for up to four months.

The Safe Haven Network works to find solutions for domestic violence survivors and their pets. We facilitate temporary emergency boarding for the pets of domestic violence survivors by connecting survivors' advocates to emergency boarding programs in and around Chicago. Our referral program uses a secure online portal to make these connections faster and more efficient.

We need volunteers to go to domestic violence agencies and animal shelters to train our partners on how to register on and use the secure online portal. Onboarding Volunteers will spend one day learning about the referral program and the secure online portal. Then teams of two or more Onboarding Volunteers will schedule sessions with our partners around the city. In these sessions, volunteers will train new users on how The Safe Haven Network's Referral Program works, how to use the secure online portal to access the Referral Program, and how to register users on the secure online portal.

Ideal volunteers should have basic computer skills and excellent interpersonal skills. Experience teaching or conducting training is a plus. Onboarding Volunteers will be ambassadors for The Safe Haven Network, so professionalism is a must and relationship building is crucial. Above all, Onboarding Volunteers must be reliable.

Access to reliable transportation is very important - if you do not have a car, we will try to pair you in a group that has one, but you should have a back-up plan in case that falls through.

For more information, please fill out our volunteer application here: http://thesafehavennetwork.org/volunteer/