LOOKING IN, REACHING OUT A Manual for Training Service Volunteers Dorine Thomas and Ret Thomas Paper, $59.95 192 looseleaf pages, 8½” x 11” ISBN 0-89390-376-0 Quantity:

Volunteers need and want training. This ready-to-go training course, designed by a school counselor for service volunteers, covers all the basics. With it, you can make sure your adult or youth volunteers feel suited and prepared for helping. You can make sure they know how to listen, how to ask questions, how to identify problems and how to make appropriate referrals. This resource includes handout masters with permission to photocopy. Use it as an activity book for your own meetings or as a formal training course.

About the Authors

Dorine Thomas has worked in the Alachua County School System in Gainesville, Fla., for more than 25 years. She has taught both middle and high school students. She is presently an occupational specialist at Buccholz High School in Gainesville, where she also serves as an instructor and chairperson in the peer counseling department. In addition, Thomas is a certified trainer of Project T.E.A.C.H. and Teaching through Learning Channels. She is a state of Florida licensed mental health consultant. She has conducted workshops in effective communication skills, classroom discipline, student motivation, learning styles, peer helping, professional mentoring, other education services and mental health topics.

Thomas received a bachelor of arts degree in education from the University of Florida in 1971. She is certified in guidance, secondary education, English and Spanish. She earned master’s and specialist of education degrees in counselor education from the University of Florida in 1977.

Ret Thomas has worked in the Alachua County School System in Gainesville, Fla., for more than 18 years. He has been a school guidance counselor at both the middle and high school levels. He has 16 years of experience in peer counseling at the high school level, during which he pioneered the “Teenaider” Advanced Peer Counseling program. Thomas is a state of Florida licensed mental health counselor and a mental health consultant. He has conducted workshops related to educational and career planning, alcohol and other drug abuse, AIDS education and sexual responsibility, communication skills and student athlete responsibilities. He also has 17 years of experience as a tennis coach.

Thomas received his bachelor of arts degree in psychology from the University of Florida in 1975. He completed his master’s and specialist of education degrees in counselor education at the University of Florida in 1978.