3.
Internship and job experience for the resume (it’s important for students who
need initial job experience for further career promotion. However, working for the
community benefits can be a result of itself, for example, court judgment (correctional
labor).
4.
Meeting new friends (Volunteering is a great opportunity to meet people who
share your values and interests. If you moved to a new area, volunteering can help you
meet new people and make useful connections. Mutual work can provide the feeling
of attachment to a particular area, community, neighborhood, develops feeling of
patriotism) etc.
Volunteers who provide support in the court are the link between the community
and the courts building and increasing trust towards the judicial system, which is very
important.
The volunteers’ tasks in working with witnesses are that they feel esteemed, with
dignity and be able to provide good statements in the court. So that witnesses
understand their importance and responsibility of their mission.
The official website for volunteers in the courts of Ukraine is at the final
developing stage. At this time the volunteers have been selected out of students
enrolled in legal studies from National Lviv Polytechnic University. The students-
volunteers have an opportunity to attend court, get familiar with court processes and
behavior of the court visitors. In addition, the students-volunteers are being trained on
legal and psychological aspects of court volunteering activities.
Legal training includes advance studying of the laws that describe witnesses’
rights and obligations. Psychological training involves two main stages: principles of
psychological support and psychological work in feedback groups.
At the first stage of the psychological training for students-volunteers, the
principles of psychological preparation for activities in the court are covered that
include following sections: psychological stress-resilience formation, and
psychological competence formation in volunteers to provide psychological support
for witnesses in the court.
The development of stress-resilience in students-volunteers is an important aspect
in training for tasks in the court, since it will help the volunteers to withstand negative
reactions, emotions that might be directed at them, protect the individual sense of self,
clearly identify the limits of one’s influence etc.
The separate topic in preparation of the volunteers to work in the court is getting
familiar with the ‘psychologist case’. ‘Psychologist case’ is a result of the observation
of the work of the psychologists in emergency situations. This case should include a
blanket, small ball for stress relief and other. Children’s toys might be included as well,
since people might come to the court house with their children. To fill up the
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