All WashU undergraduate and graduate students are welcome to apply to train to be a S.A.R.A.H. counselor, but please consider the following requirements:
- Applicants must be available for 100 hours of new member training in the upcoming Spring semester. Training is a serious time commitment and attendance is mandatory, more information about the training process can be found on the training page.
- Students in their final year at WashU are, unfortunately, not eligible, as they will not have time to be active members after Spring training. The exception is for seniors enrolled in a graduate program associated with the university in the following year.
- Students going abroad in the Spring may not apply during the Fall before going abroad, because training takes place in the spring.
We seek a diversity of applicants as there is no one “type” of person that’s suitable to join S.A.R.A.H. All undergraduate and graduate students at Washington University, regardless of identity, are welcome to apply.
The skills and qualities that we are looking for in our applicants include (but are not limited to):
- Openness to learning, growth and self-improvement; ability to respond receptively to feedback
- Passion, commitment, willingness to put in effort
- Empathy
- Potential to learn counseling skills
- Self-awareness
- Willingness to learn about intersectionality, anti-racism, and anti-oppression and how these are important to S.A.R.A.H.’s work
- Ability to support fellow members of a team
- Ability to keep membership confidential
Recruitment Process
- Written application
- Provides space for applicants to introduce themselves
- Applicants answer questions about intersectionality and peer-counseling
- S.A.R.A.H.s review applications and decide which applicants should be sent to the next round
- Applicants are vetted by our advising office, the Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention (RSVP) center.
- Group interview
- Allows us to see applicants’ interactions with others specifically in the context of conversations about sexual assault.
- Gauges applicant’s respect for others, cooperation, and listening and critical thinking skills through various activities
- S.A.R.A.H.s reassess each applicant after the group interview stage
- Individual interview
- Provides opportunity for an applicant to share their thoughts in a private setting
- Members of S.A.R.A.H. select new members by unanimous vote after reviewing and discussing each applicant that completed individual interviews
Our recruitment process ensures that we accept qualified candidates from our community to support the WashU student body.
Contact sarahrecruitment@wustl.edu with any questions regarding the recruitment process.