Valley Baptist Offers Crisis Response Training

HARLINGEN, Feb. 19, 2007  – A National Crisis Response Training program will be offered in the Valley in April and May as a preparation for hurricane season, which begins in June.

The Basic National Organization of Victim Assistance (NOVA) Training prepares community leaders to help groups of affected people cope with their immediate emotional reactions when a crisis strikes their community. The program is designed for law enforcement officers; public safety, fire, EMS, and first responders personnel; public and private school officials; mental health professionals; disaster relief leaders; victim advocates; counselors; and clergy and ministers.

The NOVA training program will be held in Harlingen at Golden Palms Retirement Center, 2101 Treasure Hills Blvd, across from Valley Baptist Medical Center-Harlingen, on five Thursdays (April 12, April 19, April 26, May 3, and May 10), from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

The training equips leaders to plan for longer-term emotional support and assists teams to begin the process of developing their own community-based crisis response program. The 40-hour training covers the techniques of providing crisis intervention. It gives participants the fundamentals on crisis and trauma, and how these are filtered through the victim’s age and culture.

Instructor for the program will be Dr. Bobby Smith, Texas State NOVA Training Director and Director of Chaplaincy Relations for the Baptist General Convention of Texas. For information on registration and fees for the program -- which is being offered at a 50 percent discount by Valley Baptist and the Baptist General Convention of Texas -- contact Loretta Salinas of the Valley Baptist Pastoral Services Dept. at (956) 389-6750 or by e-mail at loretta.salinas@valleybaptist.net, or Reba Gram at (214) 828-5277 or by e-mail at reba.gram@bgct.org.