Roy Summerford (summero@mail.auburn.edu )

LOST SLEEP JUST PART OF COMMUNITY SERVICE FOR THIS AU VOLUNTEER

AUBURN -- Sandra Newkirk, an assistant professor in the Department of Health and Human Performance in Auburn University's College of Education, wasn't looking for another challenge nearly two decades ago, when she signed up as a counselor for rape victims in the Auburn-Opelika area.

All she wanted, she says now, was to find out more about rape counseling as an outgrowth of service as a Crisis Center volunteer. What she got was a lot of sleepless nights spent helping rape victims cope with their trauma and 17 years of community involvement far beyond anything she imagined at the time.

In the years since attending the informational session sponsored by the East Alabama Mental Health Center in 1980, Newkirk has been a source of assistance for rape victims in Lee and some surrounding counties. Since the second year, she has headed a small group of volunteer counselors, now called Rape Counselors of East Alabama, Inc.

The volunteers are on call nights and weekends to counsel rape victims while they receive medical treatment at the emergency room of East Alabama Medical Center. The counselors provide emotional support and brief the victims on the recovery process, but often the most important role, Newkirk said, is simply to be a caring listener during a highly emotional time for the victim.

"When you go out there like that, you are the only person who is not asking for something," Newkirk explained. "The police, doctors and nurses are helping the victim, but they have to ask questions or ask her to do something. We are just there to help the victim, and we don't ask anything of her."

While professional counseling is the domain of others, the rape counselors are there to comfort the victim when she may need help the most, said Newkirk. Typically, a rape victim will be emotionally traumatized when she arrives at the hospital. "Some victims do not readily respond to assistance, but you can see them get more at ease after you visit with them a while," she said.

Rape counselors do not push assistance on the victim. Instead Newkirk advises the victim that she is there to listen. She does, however, brief the victim on what to expect in the days and weeks ahead. She provides the victim with a beeper number and responds when the victim asks for help. With some victims, she has been by their side when the case goes to court.

"Sometimes they need to turn to us," Newkirk said. "Many times, family members treat the victim badly, as if she did something wrong, and she turns to us, instead, when she needs someone to talk to."

Newkirk's initial involvement with rape counseling was an extension of her service as a listener for the Crisis Center of East Alabama. When she attended the first information session on rape counseling, Newkirk was a volunteer listener for the Crisis Center, which is a telephone call-in service for residents experiencing emotional problems running the gamut from mild depression to thoughts of suicide.

Listening to other people's troubles can be emotionally demanding, but Newkirk said she sees the involvement as part of her service to the community.

"It may be a thankless job at times, but there's a certain satisfaction that comes from helping somebody just by being there for them," she explained. "You don't do something like this for an end result; you do it because you care."

A public health grant now supplements financial support from the United Way, so RCEA has two part-time staff members who work with school systems in a five- county area to educate teens about the dangers and implications of rape, including date rape. Volunteers, meanwhile, work with the victims of rape.

Newkirk said more volunteers would be welcome. (The Rape Counselors telephone number is 745-8634.) Rather than professional credentials, the primary qualification is the ability to listen, she added. "You very quickly learn that one of the most important skills a person can have when assistant others is the ability to listen without making judgments."

The volunteer leader said everyone can find a way to help improve their community, whether as a rape counselor, a Crisis Center listener or other means of service.

"First of all, people should support the United Way because they help us provide the services that help others," she said. "And then they should get involved. We all have talents and time we can apply if we really want to do so.

"There are so many groups like the rape counseling service that need somebody to step forward and say 'I care -- I want to help,'" Newkirk added. "For everybody, there is a place where they can give something back through community service."

aug97:AU-newkirk

CONTACT: Newkirk, 334/844-1452