Volunteer & student officer roles
Students built this. Students keep it running.
Almost every face a participant sees at TNJS belongs to another student. If you want the kind of experience that changes what you think you're capable of — and looks genuinely serious on a grad school application — this is it.
- Open at UCSB, SDSU, SFSU & SBCC
- Full trauma-informed training provided
- No prior experience needed
Open positions
Three ways in.
You don't need to be a survivor to volunteer, and you don't need to tell us whether you are. You do need to care about doing this carefully.
Program Co-Facilitator
~4–6 hrs/week during the series
You're in the room every week alongside the clinicians and instructors. You open the check-in, hold the space, notice when someone needs a moment. You'll be trained in trauma-informed facilitation before you ever lead anything.
A good fit if you're in: Psychology, sociology, public health, social work, counselling — or anyone who's good at making people feel less alone.
Program Assistant
~3–4 hrs/week
The series runs because someone sets up the room, tracks the materials, confirms the instructors and makes sure the journals and mats are there. That's this. It's quieter work and it's the reason the program is free and reliable.
A good fit if you're in: Anyone organised who'd rather be useful in the background than in front of a group.
Marketing Officer
~3–4 hrs/week
Most students who need TNJS have never heard of it. You make the posts, the flyers, the campus partnerships — and you learn how to talk about violence and healing in a way that doesn't sensationalise anyone.
A good fit if you're in: Design, comms, film, journalism, or anyone who already runs a good Instagram.
Let's be straight about it
What you get out of this.
Volunteering should be honest in both directions. Here's what's in it for you, said plainly.
Real trauma-informed training
Not a slide deck. Skills you'll use in clinical work, teaching, HR, medicine — anywhere humans are.
A reference that means something
From an executive director and program managers who've watched you work for months.
A team that checks on you
This work is heavy. Nobody carries it alone here, and burnout isn't treated as a personal failure.
Proof you can do hard things
You'll be trusted with something that actually matters, on a real timeline, with real people counting on you.
Before you apply
One honest caution.
If you're a survivor yourself, you are genuinely welcome here — many of our volunteers are. But sitting with other people's pain every week can pull at your own, and there's no prize for pushing through that.
If you're early in your own healing, consider joining a series first and applying later. That's not a rejection — it's the same care we'd want someone to show you.
Not a student, or not right now?
There are other doors.
Offer a healing modality
Yoga, sound, reiki, art, movement — if you're a practitioner, our program managers want to hear from you.
Start a chapter
TNJS exists at three campuses because students asked for it. If yours isn't one, ask.
Fund a survivor's series
$250 covers every material one participant needs across all seven weeks.
Ready? The application is short.
Open to students at UCSB, SDSU, SFSU and SBCC. If you have questions before applying, email us first — we'd rather answer them.