Volunteers Needed to Become Peer Listeners
The Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium is seeking volunteers to become
peer listeners and help others through emotional stresses related to the
Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The peer listener training program will train
residents to become advisors, friends and referrals agents for community members
who do not want to seek professional counseling services or who may not know
that help is available.
Two training sessions are scheduled:
· 1-5 p.m., Wednesday, July 14, at the Bayou La Batre Community
Center, 12745 Padgett Switch Road, Bayou La Batre, Ala.
· 1-5 p.m., Thursday, July 15, at the Caylor Auditorium at The
University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast Research Lab, 703 East
Beach Drive, in Ocean Springs, Miss.
Candidates for the training should be highly trusted, dependable community
members who are able to keep information confidential. Training topics will
include understanding technological disasters, listening and other
communications skills, managing anger, identifying depression, assessing suicide
risk and more. Peer listener volunteers should be willing to commit time as
needed to assist individuals in coping with emotional stress in their
communities.
Sociologist Steven Picou of the University of South Alabama, who implemented the
peer listener training program after the Exxon Valdez oil spill and has
performed extensive research on communities and disasters, will conduct the
training. The program is coordinated by the Gulf of Mexico Sea Grant Programs,
U.S. Department of Agriculture Cooperative Extension, Auburn University Marine
Center, the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program, the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Gulf of Mexico Regional Collaboration Team,
NOAA Gulf Coast Services Center and Grand Bay National Estuarine Research
Reserve.
Space is limited to 30 individuals per training session. Additional sessions
will be planned based on interest.
If you would like to volunteer to become a peer listener, register online at
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Peer_Listening_Registration or contact Tracie
Sempier, Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium, at tracie.sempier@usm.edu <mailto:tracie.sempier@usm.edu>
or 228-818-8829 (in Mississippi) or Jody Thompson, Auburn University Marine
Extension and Research Center and Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant, at thomp13@auburn.edu
<mailto:thomp13@auburn.edu> or 251-438-5690 (in Alabama).
Melissa Schneider
Communications Coordinator
Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant
703 East Beach Drive
Ocean Springs, MS 39564
228-818-8838 (office)
228-818-8841 (fax)
masgc.org
facebook.com/MississippiAlabamaSeaGrant
<http://www.facebook.com/MississippiAlabamaSeaGrant>
Received from:
Lee Yokel
Environmental Education Coordinator
Gulf of Mexico Alliance
Dauphin Island Sea Lab
101 Bienville Blvd
Dauphin Island, AL 36528
(251) 861-2141 ext.7507 New Number!
(251) 861-7421 fax
lyokel@disl.org
www.gulfallianceeducation.org
www.gulfofmexicoalliance.org
Online Digital Library: http://www.nbii.gov/gomaeen/