The Freeborn County Crisis Response team is looking for volunteers to help community members who have been affected by natural or human-made trauma.

The team, which goes through an initial 24-hour National Organization for Victim Assistance training and ongoing training as well, has worked with people both in and out of the state.

It has supported people who have been affected by hurricanes, tornadoes, fires, floods, vehicle crashes, a murder-suicide and even a neighborhood shooting. It has helped in the aftermath of a traumatic faculty death at Albert Lea High School, in the aftermath of an industrial death of an employee in front of other workers, and more recently in the aftermath of the floods of southeastern Minnesota, a multiple car fatality and the traumatic death of an employee.

Volunteers can be anyone over 13 who is interested in working with people who have experienced trauma. Children under 18 must have parental consent.

“It’s very satisfying to assist people who have been traumatized in the sense that it’s a good feeling to see them going through the process of recovery and reclaiming their personal power and then moving on,” said one volunteer, Gary Nyquist.

The Crisis Response Team provides three major services: Companioning, where a volunteer provides a listening ear and support to traumatized individuals immediately after an event; giving trauma presentations, where a volunteer will give a 90-minute presentation on trauma and its effect on an individual physically, behaviorally and emotionally; and providing group crisis interventions, where a trained facilitator and scribe will help individuals through a process of resiliency somewhere between 24 and 72 hours after the disaster.

Nyquist said he got involved with the Crisis Response Team after retiring in 2004 from more than 30 years in the field of corrections.

He said he was looking for activities to get involved in, and the Crisis Response Team intrigued him. At that time, there was a required 40-hour training; now there is a 24-hour training.

Who: Anyone over the age of 13 (parental consent required for those under 18).

What: The team is made up of a group of volunteers trained to go out into the community to be supportive of people who have been traumatized by disaster.

When: Applications due Sept. 14; the next crisis response training will be Sept. 26, Oct. 3 and Oct. 10 from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Where: Department of Human Services, 203 W. Clark St., Albert Lea.

Information: Contact Rose Olmsted, the Crisis Response Team coordinator, at 377-5461.

In the fall of 2005, he went through the training and has since volunteered in situations of crisis including the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the aftermath of the Cold Spring High School shooting and the aftermath of other hurricanes in Florida, to name a few. He has also volunteered locally.

Nyquist said there are typically six people from the team on call during any given month who handle the pagers. After receiving a call of a crisis, they organize a team to provide assistance.

The commitment can sometimes be sporadic, depending on what’s going on, he said. As a group there are about 40 people on the team, but generally there are three to five people involved in each incident.

“It is a very interesting learning experience, and it provides a challenge that is very rewarding,” Nyquist said. “Helping traumatized folks is really a neat experience. It’s a great social experience being able to work with all the first responders and people from various areas of the community who assist in these types of situations. There’s a lot of great people involved in this area.”

The team’s coordinator, Rose Olmsted, wanted to stress the fact that people do not have to have a degree to become a volunteer. The organization provides all of the training.

Training will be the last Saturday in September and the first two Saturdays in October, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. The team also participates in ongoing training to learn new skills and is a part of the yearly disaster drills in Albert Lea.

Olmsted said she needs at least five people to go through the training, and right now she only has two.

“We have kids going off to college, people leaving the community,” she said. “This will help keep our supply up.”

She noted some young people get involved with the Crisis Response Team as part of confirmation or 4-H groups.

To get an application mailed to you, call Olmsted at 377-5461.