If you're looking to volunteer for them, then this is my experience with them. This is a review /…read morefeedback on only their volunteer selection & training process, not on their services.
There are no interviews and screening processes. So there is no way to knw exactly what their expectations are and what their "culture" is. Once you finish their online training for several weeks, you go in for a background check and then start in-person training. They give you a training manual with exercises over several weeks, and have you listen to calls, make call logs, discuss calls with you etc. No timeline / deadline is mentioned. I did all of this, under the assumption that they were acting in good faith, and serious about my time and their time. I attended in-person training from Oct 10, 2021 to Dec 12, 2021, first with Scott Chavez and then with "A" (Anna). I missed 1 week, because I was sick, but Anna asked me not to come in, esp if I was ill. During my training, Scott and Anna never told me how long training was actually supposed to take, what expectations were actually there from volunteers etc. They merely said I would be coming in and doing the weekly training sessions (4 hours on a Sunday -- I picked Sunday). Through out my time there, there was never any alarmingly negative feedback. After 3 weeks, Scott "handed me over" to Anna (or "A" as she prefers to be called). Through out the training, both Scott and "A" indicated that I would only be doing 211 and APS/CPS line, eventually "moving up" to all lines, including crisis and talk lines.
On Sunday, Dec 12, "A" informed me that I would be starting that following Sunday (Dec 19). She did not indicate any issues or any challenges with my training or my ability to "man" their lines. We spent my last shift going through "mock calls", creating call records and call logs etc. Nothing about my challenges with multi-tasking etc, just that I start the following Sunday.
Well, lo and behold, late on Friday, Dec 17, I got a call from Justin Jarret, the volunteer manager, that they were "letting me go" because I could not "multi-task" and took "too long to train". He further stated that I was expected to man all the lines (211/ APS / CPS / CRISIS / TALK) from Week 3 (when the manual clearly shows more than 3 weeks of training). When I pointed out that none of this had ever been mentioned to me during training, as training was done on their schedule and it was their staff's call that I would only man APS/CPS/211 to begin with, he became defensive and said I couldn't "multi-task" because I (like one of their staff members) indicated that I would take notes on paper first and then enter the information on the computer because I wanted to focus on the call and enter details later. When I attempted to discuss this further, he simply said, "Sorry, this is a team decision to let you go" and hung up on me abruptly.
Jarrett had never had any interaction with me through out the hands-on training process. And if I had taken "too long to train" and had been expected to start on Week 3, then why not tell me that on Week 4? Why let me waste my time and gas money driving 16 miles to their center every Sunday, giving me positive feedback on the training exercises in their training manual, only to "terminate" me the Friday before I started? What happened between Dec 12 when "A" told me I was going to start on Dec 19, and Dec 17 when Justin calls to claim "it wouldn't work out"?
I emailed Scott asking for feedback and his response was that I should take classes at DVC due to my "love" for "learning". Yes, Scott's feedback on the entire saga was that I should attend community college. My emails to Justin bounced and Lesley did not bother to respond.
If you're intending to volunteer here, please make sure you know what their expectations are before hand, before - like me - you commit 4 months of your time and your gas money to these people. YOU have to ask because they won't tell you what their expectations are. You have to ensure you're jumping in ready to go on Week 3 (per Justin), never mind what the trainers and the training manual says. In fact, I got blindsided by Anna's claim I was going to start the following week only to be fired! Yes, sometimes volunteers are not a good fit for the agency and vice-versa but the time to let them know is WEEK 2 OR WEEK 3, not several weeks later, 2 days before they are due to start!
The lack of respect and their inability to be upfront with their volunteers is unbelievable. The entire thing is so utterly disorganized and the lack of clear, open and HONEST communication is utterly galling. So, beware and make sure your time and money is not wasted like mine was. Good luck!