Volunteers and interns make an invaluable contribution of their time, compassion, and commitment to the Asian Women’s Shelter. Shelter volunteers, interns, and language advocates complete a 64- hour training to qualify them as California-certified domestic-violence counselors.

Volunteers

Volunteers complete the training course and are asked to commit four hours of their time per week for a year. AWS typically trains 20 – 30 volunteers per year. Volunteer trainings are eight weeks long and are offered twice a year: one in the Fall (usually October/November) and the other in the Spring (usually March/April). 

Interns

Most interns are undergraduate or graduate students who complete summer, 10-month, or 12-month internships for credit. They work 16–20 hours a week at the shelter. During the first half of their tenure they work closely with a Direct Services staff member and receive training on supporting women and children directly. In the second half, they begin to take their own cases and support residents through accompaniments (legal, medical, mental; helping with transitional housing applications, etc.). Interns complete a special project during their time with AWS.  

Diversity and Bilingual Skills

AWS welcomes interns' MLAMs and volunteers who are from diverse backgrounds and experiences. We welcome all age groups, queer, and transgendered people. Although all languages and dialects are welcome, presently AWS is focusing on recruiting bicultural, bilingual women who speak the following languages: Arabic, Burmese, Cambodian, Dari, Farsi, Hindi, Hmong, Indonesian, Javanese, Kannada, Khmu, Korean, Lao, Mien, Mongolian, Nepali, Punjabi, Russian, Tagalog, Tamil, Thai, Tibetan, Telugu, Urdu, and Vietnamese. For more information, please contact the Volunteer Coordinator at AWS.