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Show Trained volunteers man Community Friend Center Community Friends is a center where volunteers and professionals work together to serve the tri-county area in three ways: 24-hour Helpline, Alcohol-Drug Alcohol-Drug information, and Prevention-Education Prevention-Education programs designed for church groups, clubs and schools. Community Friends is directed by Rose Anna Miller, Prevention-Education Prevention-Education Specialist, and operated solely by trained volunteers from the Vernal and Roosevelt areas. The Program Pro-gram is sponsored by the Uintah Basin Association of Governments, with funding fun-ding sources from local governments and the Utah State Division of Alcoholism & Drugs by a subcontract with the Department of Social Services. Mrs. Miller and the programs are guided guid-ed by citizen advisors comprising the Uintah Basin Volunteer Association Board and elected officials in the three counties. The volunteer operated Helpline is a 24-hour toll free "listening service" begun in June 1974. It was organized to ease crisis points in alcohol-drug users. Today volunteers are trained as para-professionals para-professionals who compassionately address ad-dress the needs of any caller, whether it be for simple information and directions direc-tions on community resources to newcomers, a listening post for the lonely, or referrals for professional services ser-vices to other local social service agencies. agen-cies. Crisis and emergency calls are on the increase and Helpline has often been a vital link to people in distress. According to Mrs. Miller, "Callers and the volunteers remain anonymous. Confidentiality Con-fidentiality is upheld except in extreme cases where death could result." Helpline is connected to a 24-hour answering service which then patches the call through to a volunteer. The 1 1 numbers are: 722-2731 and 789-4888. All ' other areas can call collect. I Alcohol and Drug Prevention- 1 Education is subdivided into three levels: Primary Prevention: where i skills can be taught to families and in- j dividuals on how to prevent substance i abuse; Secondary Prevention: which is an early intervention stage for persons already using alcohol or drugs where . recovery percentages are still quite 1 high; and Tertiary Prevention: where treatment and rehabilitation intervenes to prevent death. Community Friends focuses on the levels of Primary and Secondary Prevention. Mrs. Miller has begun a Speakers Bureau and a resource library with films and reference books to "help create an awareness of social problems affecting our communities, and to' make such resources available to help citizens absolve these problems." The Speakers Bureau is composed of local people and agencies who can provide the community with a variety of interesting in-teresting topics for group programs. A topical listing of the Speakers Bureau may be obtained by calling Community Friends at 789-0333 or 722-2392, or writing Post Office Box 2020-Roosevelt. As one member of the Volunteer Advisory Ad-visory Board put it, "Our area needs Community Friends. Rural people are not hicks! They are quite aware, educated and cultured people advancing advanc-ing in technology while learning to grow in an everchanging society. Volunteers have a knack for listening and a compassion com-passion for their neighbors. Professionals Profes-sionals in government and social service ser-vice agencies have the special skills and knowledge, but whatever our skills or talents it boils down to one truism-we truism-we all need each other!" |