Victims Support Centre

The Bedfordview Victim Support Centre (VSC) is located at the Bedfordview Police Station and services all residents and businesses of Bedfordview (sectors 1,2 and 3). The Victim Support Group (VSG) is a voluntarily (non-religious) group designed to help victims within the community to address any issues that result from their exposure to crime which often results in various levels of trauma. The VSG works for SAPS Bedfordview but falls under the Bedfordview Community Police Forum structure.
The centre was established to provide a safe and calm environment conducive to post-trauma counselling. The VSC offers the services of both trauma debriefers, who engage with victims at the time of the incident, as well as trauma counsellors, who are available to counsel victims after the event. We are extremely fortunate to host one of the most successful teams in Gauteng.

VSC Contact number – 063 798 5551

Would you like to join our BCPF Team as a volunteer Victim Support Counsellor?

The VSC is currently recruiting additional counsellors and hopes to be able to offer multi-lingual capabilities to support the broader community.

We are looking for volunteers to assist the VSG team as follows:

  • Have experience (no matter how little) with trauma debriefing / narrative counselling (this could have been through a school, church, community forums, managing a team of people who have required counselling, human resources environment, etc).
  • Have an interest in helping people.
  • Have a naturally empathetic nature.
  • Be good at building relationships.
  • Have excellent listening skills.
  • Be non-judgemental in nature
  • Having multi lingual abilities would be an advantage as a large number of our victims affected by crime are not English speaking.

To apply to be a volunteer with VSG, you need to:

  • Send a short email with justification as to how you can positively contribute towards this community group.
  • Be available to meet with the team leader for an interview to discuss the responsibilities and accountabilities of being a volunteer counsellor.
  • Complete a personal info and indemnity form as well as have your finger prints taken for police clearance.
  • Be an SA citizen.

The volunteered time would be used as follows:

  • To conduct phone calls from the VSG office at the police station during your week of duty. Frequency of these duty periods will depend on quantity of volunteer counsellors available.
  • Attend bi-monthly team meetings at the VSG office / virtually.
  • Commit to the VSG for a period of 12 months (Jan – Dec).

Please note that no payment will be made for your time as a volunteer.

Should you be interested in applying for this role please start with your motivation email to marketing@bcpf.co.za.