Boulder County victim advocates are working around the clock to serve community members during their darkest hours.

If victims need their hand to be held or words of encouragement in a time of crisis, Victim Advocate Coordinator Shana Epler, with the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office, said advocates are ready to assist.

Victim Services Manager Andrea Buitrago, for the Longmont Police Department, reflected on the positive effect victim’s assistance can have in hard times.

“We get feedback from the community about the impact that victim advocates have had on their lives,” Buitrago said. “A victim recently said that he thanks God every day for the impact one (advocate) made. It speaks to the significance of this role and the importance of having someone there during people’s roughest moments.”

Epler explained the two components of the victim assistance program at the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office: The first is on-scene response, where volunteer victim advocates respond with deputies to crime scenes to provide emotional support and resources, she said.

The second component is outreach advocates, who reach out to victims after a traumatic event occurs, Epler said.

“We have about seven outreach advocates who — after a crime has been committed or if there has been a death in the family — will reach out to the victims and/or the families to check in, provide emotional support and resources for whatever they’re needing to navigate their next step,” Epler said.

Advocates with the sheriff’s office serve the Lafayette and Louisville police departments as well as Nederland and all of unincorporated Boulder County, Epler said. “Unincorporated” refers to areas outside of city and town boundaries.

“We respond to all the mountainous areas that are part of Boulder County as well,” Epler said. “Our scope is a bit different than victim assistance programs in the city of Boulder or Longmont because we respond to open space and the parks and trails in unincorporated Boulder County — this includes Chautauqua and Eldora ski resort.”

The sheriff office’s victim assistance program began in the 1990s, Epler said.

The Boulder County program has about seven outreach advocates and about 26 on-scene advocates, Epler said.

“We’re in the process of recruiting more right now, and we have about 11 that will be hopefully moving forward to our academy,” Epler said.

Although volunteer victim advocates have to attend 40 hours of training, they are not required to have experience upon entering the academy, according to Epler.

The academy for advocates takes place “over the course of three weeks, and we have specialists come from all over the state to come and talk to our advocates about various topics such as grief, loss, forensic nurse exams, domestic violence, sexual assault, protection orders and safety planning,” Epler said. “We just try to condense everything that they may need in the course of their duties.

“And, of course, they are matched with a mentor who is an experienced advocate,” Epler added.Additionally, program leadership holds monthly meetings to check in with victim advocates, Epler said.

That’s “to help the advocate maintain their self care (and) process any trauma they may have encountered upon their duties, and we always debrief as a group and individually,” Epler said.

Epler also said the sheriff’s office offers acudetox to assist victim advocates in managing any trauma they’ve incurred.

“Acudetox is a form of acupuncture. So there’s small needles, five of them that go into each ear, and basically they all designate to an organ in the body to provide support, whatever organ needs support. Sometimes the lungs are an area that carries grief or the liver,” Epler said.

Buitrago, for the Longmont Police Department, said nearby residents previously received victim services through the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office program but that Longmont’s victim assistance program began in 2010.

“I’ve always been passionate about helping people, and I think in this position, it allows me to work with all different kinds of populations. It allows me to work with children, with adults and with the elderly,” Buitrago said. “‘I am able to work with victims of child abuse as well as victims of human trafficking, domestic violence and sex assault, so I feel that it allows me to make a bigger impact rather than just focusing on one population.”

Buitrago said Longmont’s program consists of four full-time bilingual staff members and 15 volunteer victim advocates.

Both Longmont’s and Boulder’s programs are currently recruiting volunteer victim advocates, according to Buitrago and Epler.

“We are looking for people who are kind and compassionate, who are willing to sit with people and be present with them during their hardest moments,” Epler said. “Maybe it sounds like it could be intimidating or scary, but we are a really supportive, inclusive, fun and friendly group, and it’s very rewarding work.”

The day shift for Boulder sheriff’s office on-scene advocates is from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and the night shift is from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. Monday through Friday, according to a news release. Additionally, officials said the weekend shift for on-scene victim advocates is from 6 a.m. Saturday to 6 a.m. Monday. For more information, call 303-441-3656.

The deadline to apply for the Boulder sheriff’s office program is 5 p.m. Wednesday, according to a news release.