TIP Volunteers Show Up So Survivors Do Not Face Trauma Alone

The hardest part of a crisis is often what comes right after, when the sirens fade and you are left standing there trying to figure out what to do next. That is why this conversation stopped us in our tracks: Holly Nicholson joins us to explain TIP of WNC, the Trauma Intervention Program of Western North Carolina, and how trained volunteers respond alongside first responders to provide immediate emotional and practical support to survivors, families, and witnesses. TIP is not “therapy later.” It is emotional first aid now, with a simple goal that carries lifelong impact: reduce secondary trauma and help people take the first steady steps toward a healthy recovery.

We also celebrate 10 years of the George Real Estate Group on WHKP and share a clear-eyed Henderson County real estate market update. If you have heard that real estate is “slowing down,” we talk through what the numbers actually show and why a balanced market can still mean real momentum for buyers and sellers in Hendersonville and across Western North Carolina.

Plus, we give you a can’t-miss weekend open house lineup, including 959 Silver Glen Way, 525 Byers Cove Road, and 100 Elmridge in Kenmuir, with the kind of features people ask for every day here: mountain views, one-level living, and that rare find of a view with a usable flat lot. If this episode moved you, share it with someone who cares about community, and please subscribe and leave a review so more listeners can find the Hometown Hero stories.

Transcript

Ten Years On WHKP

SPEAKER_01 0:00

The George Real Estate Group Radio broadcast is celebrating 10 years on WHKP. The George Real Estate Group is celebrating 10 years on the radio live every Thursday morning at 10.05 on WHKP 107.7 FM and AM 1450, and streaming online at WHKP.com. Each Friday morning at 845, the George Real Estate Group presents the Hometown Hero Award to someone in our community who goes above and beyond to make our hometown a better place to live. Here's this week's Hometown Hero Show. It's 8 44, and it's time to uh jump into our George Real Estate Group Hometown Hero Series, like we do every Friday morning. And it's always brought to you and sponsored by the George Real Estate Group. And uh Amy Hathaway and Amy Lauders here. One of the Amy's is going to tell us about the real estate world. Good morning.

SPEAKER_03 1:05

Good morning. We are the Amy team at George Real Estate Group, and we're thrilled to be here. Noah's out of town right now, so he asked us to cover for him.

SPEAKER_01 1:14

Perfect.

Henderson County Market Check

SPEAKER_03 1:15

Um, and so uh about the real estate market. We're trucking right along. Um we're in kind of a balanced market here in Henderson County now. Um and I I keep hearing people say that uh real estate's slowing down. It actually isn't. When you look at our numbers year to date, we're still ahead of last year. And um the uh average and median selling price is a slightly lower, but we're basically trucking right along.

SPEAKER_01 1:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:45

We still have a lot of people who love Hendersonville and want to move here.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

And you got a good product to sell, you really do.

SPEAKER_03 1:53

We do. We're blessed to be in this area.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

You're gonna be uh showing some properties this weekend?

SPEAKER_03 1:59

Yes. The Amy team, we have three open houses this weekend. We're gonna be busy.

SPEAKER_01 2:04

Yes, you are.

SPEAKER_03 2:06

We've we've been uh busy listing some new listings and some really exciting ones, so we're excited. Um we're

Weekend Open Houses Details

SPEAKER_03 2:13

gonna have two back to back tomorrow on Saturday. Um both kind of out toward the Edneyville area, that end of town. Um one is 959 Silver Glen Way, and that one is kind of on top of a mountain. It's off of Slick Rock Road, if anybody knows where that is. So beautiful up there. Um beautiful view, a beautiful home. So that one's gonna be 10 to 12 tomorrow. And then we have one, it's on Byers Cove Road, 525 Byers Cove Road. That one's gonna be 12 to 2. We're doing these back to back since they're kind of close to each other. And that one is truly special. Uh Amy can attest to this. We all the time we want people want views, but they want a flat lot, and it's hard to find. This this house has it and more. I mean, it has everything you could want. Gorgeous home.

SPEAKER_02 3:06

One level living if you want that, slit bedroom plan. It's amazing.

SPEAKER_03 3:11

Yes, gorgeous home. Um, and then Sunday we're doing one in Kenmuir at 100 Elmridge. Um, and that one will be two to four that day.

SPEAKER_01 3:21

So busy weekend. Yes. We're looking forward to it. We'd love to meet new people there. And you guys are located in Flat Rock, uh, right? Yes. The office number there.

SPEAKER_03 3:31

Yeah, we're right there where the Flat Rock Bakery and Wrinkledag and Hubba Hubba Barbecue. Um, this is why we cannot stay on the diet.

SPEAKER_01 3:38

Nope.

SPEAKER_03 3:40

So, yeah, we're right there. So hop in and see us sometime. We'd love to we'd love to visit with you.

SPEAKER_01 3:46

Fantastic.

TIP of WNC Explained

SPEAKER_01 3:47

Thank you, Amy. Uh, welcome with me, if you will, our George Real Estate Group Hometown Hero spokesperson, Holly Nicholson. Good morning, Holly.

SPEAKER_04 3:57

Good morning.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

How are you?

SPEAKER_04 3:59

I'm great. How are you doing?

SPEAKER_01 4:01

I'm doing fantastic. Thank you. I'm so glad you could come and visit with us today and and uh tell us about this program that we were intrigued by and and uh it really caught my eye and jumped up on my radar. It's called TIP. So uh explain TIP to us.

SPEAKER_05 4:19

So TIP is the trauma intervention program, and we have a chapter in Western North Carolina, so we do go by TIP of WNC.

SPEAKER_03 4:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 4:29

Um we are a group of volunteers who provide immediate um emotional and practical support resources to survivors um during trauma uh traumatic events. So we work directly with first responders and show up on the scene of any kind of traumatic event or emergency. And while they work on the victims, we sit with the survivors and make sure that they have the resources they need, that they're safe, that they have um the ability to make decisions that they might need to and just provide emotional support and emotional first aid on the scene to just to help prevent secondary trauma from a traumatic event.

SPEAKER_01 5:10

How neat. I mean, that just uh to be honest with you, I never heard of such a program. So are you guys first on the scene literally?

SPEAKER_05 5:20

We are not first on the scene, but we're we're called in by first responders. So uh once they call us, um uh we paid out, we're all volunteers, and so we are on the scene within 30 minutes of being paged by first responders. So we are we are on the scene working right beside our first responders so they can pay attention to securing the scene and making sure anyone who needs medical attention or or any kind of a support um they can focus on that so we can focus on family, neighbors, friends. Uh we work a lot with children and elderly or just bystanders on um any kind of traumatic event to make sure that that they're okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:02

Where did the uh program start, Holly? Do you know?

SPEAKER_05 6:05

Yes. So it started in um right outside of San Diego, California in 1989. Um so the founder of the program, he worked in mental health, and he saw a lot of secondary trauma from traumatic events um occurring within his patients. So he uh Wayne Fortin he decided to make a program that has grown nationally that we actually are the only um affiliate in North Carolina at this time, but we do hope to grow. Um, but we cover Henderson County and Buncombe counties at this time. But we've been here for uh just over 10 years. Wow. So we're we're growing rapidly.

SPEAKER_01 6:47

Good. And that's uh and I understand why. Because uh wow, what a commitment by uh volunteers, wouldn't you think, Amy, to to say, okay, I'm by my phone, uh I'll be there within 30 minutes.

SPEAKER_03 7:01

Yes, and I mean we were talking out in the lobby before this, even Christmas Day. Somebody's on call every 30 minutes and may be called out on Christmas Day, and what a um great group of people you must work with who are willing to definitely.

SPEAKER_05 7:17

We have amazing volunteers. I

Training And On-Call Volunteer Life

SPEAKER_05 7:19

cannot say enough good things about our volunteers that they we are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, Christmas, Mother's Day, it does not matter that we are available. Our volunteers um they cover 12 hour shifts every um three days of every month they cover 12 hour shifts minimum. And so at any given time we have we have someone ready to ready to go to the scene. Um we are actually recruiting new volunteers, and so we do have a training coming up in um October. So if anyone is interested in volunteering, please visit our website. It's TIP of wnc.org. That's tip of wnc.org, and uh click on the volunteer link and there's more information about becoming a volunteer. Um but we would love to have you just even um attend our information session and see if this is a good fit for you.

SPEAKER_01 8:17

What Holly is involved in the training. Tell us more about that, how you could become one.

SPEAKER_05 8:23

Definitely. So our training is 55 hours of training that is um that is conducted by TIP National Uh certified uh trainers. And so you would attend all training sessions. We do have monthly continuing education sessions that are required, which is really interesting because we learn about different um groups within the community that we can partner with and and um the process of what might happen on any given scene. Um and then um all volunteers need to live in Buncombe or Henderson County and have a valid driver's license and um uh be able to pass uh a background check and also have the ability to volunteer for for TIP, of course. It's a big ask, but it's totally worth it that it's um a minimum of three 12-hour shifts per month that we ask that volunteers do.

Hometown Hero Award Recognition

SPEAKER_01 9:23

Well, it's uh it's just an an amazing organization I uh caught that caught my radar, and we wanted uh to have you in and on behalf of uh uh of the George Real Estate Group offer you the Hometown Hero Award this week. We're so grateful, and you know, no bo nobody's changing hands and and someone is who is trained is showing up on the scene immediately after the worst moment in anyone's life. Right. You don't go to birthday parties. You're you're going to the worst situation. What are Holly some of the uh some of the things that you f you feel good about helping over the years? I know you've done this your yourself. What what what you've been able to do that really makes you happy you did it?

SPEAKER_05 10:15

It makes me happy just knowing that I can be there to help prevent any kind of secondary trauma that a person might might have. Um I've I've been on scenes to where I know the person will not remember me the next day or be able to pick me out of a crowd, but I'm completely okay with that because I know that when they look back on this horrible event and the worst day of their life, they'll remember that someone was there and someone was able to connect them with resources and someone was able to sit beside them and remind them to breathe and remind them to that that they need to take a breath and drink some water and sit down and that they can they're still strong enough to make hard decisions and that they can still uh be a strong person and have control over horrible situations um and and be able to connect with the the resources needed to get them through the next steps of this tragedy.

SPEAKER_01 11:11

The next step. What is you're in that situation and I you just literally don't know what the next step should be. Someone that's there that's trained and has got a cool head and has done this before, been here, done that, and here's what we need to focus on.

SPEAKER_05 11:29

Right. It's so important when someone is in uh just a tragic event to empower them to make sure that they they know that they can still make decisions and to empower them to know that even if you just give them the first baby step they need to do, um even to call a friend to come to the scene to sit with them, um any kind of of forward motion will help them begin the recovery or begin the to fulfill the needs that they they need at that time and that it will in the future to to get back to where they are need to be.

SPEAKER_01 12:05

And have a healthy recovery.

SPEAKER_05 12:06

Definitely. That is the main priority is a healthy recovery and make sure that they're empowered to to get there.

The Power Of The Next Step

SPEAKER_01 12:14

It's so important uh personal story. My daughter was working uh at a store in East Asheville when she was 16, doing a part-time job cashier. Guy walks in with a gun and uh immediately uh he took the money and he ran. Everybody's safe, okay, thank you. But the industry that owned the store uh insisted that she go to some counseling. And she did, and uh it really never came up again, and I mentioned ten years later about that incident, and her words were oh, I forgot about that.

SPEAKER_05 12:56

That's awesome. That's great. I forgot about that. That's great.

SPEAKER_03 13:01

That that's wonderful. And if she hadn't had that counseling, she might not have forgotten about that.

SPEAKER_01 13:06

The right next step. Yeah, yes, yeah. It comes from professional people like yourselves. Thank you for what you do.

SPEAKER_03 13:14

Yes, thank you so much.

SPEAKER_05 13:16

Thank you all, thank you for having me.

Real Estate Wrap Up And Gratitude

SPEAKER_01 13:18

Uh, gosh, we've got about uh two and a half minutes or so to fill here. Amy's tell us about uh again the open house this weekend and brag on some of those properties. One of those is a mountain view property, you said.

SPEAKER_03 13:31

Yeah, really, all three of them could be. The third one, they've talked about clearing that. If if you cleared some trees, you would have a mountain view at the third one also. But yes, both of the ones on Saturday have a mountain view 959 Silver Glen Way, 10 to 12, 525 Byers Cove Road, two 12 to 2s, and you can do those back to back if you want to head out that direction. And then Sunday 100 Elm Ridge, 2 to 4. Yeah. And if you want us to fill some time, we had thought about maybe bragging on Noah a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 14:01

Let's do it.

SPEAKER_03 14:04

Since he isn't here, since he isn't here. Yeah. He's such a great mentor to us and such a great member of our community, finding people like Holly here um to yeah, to celebrate and you know, like you're out there doing your thing, not even thinking about getting any kind of accolade for it. And um, I love that Noah has this hometown hero program just to recognize pe all the people out there. And I mean, we don't even know people like you are out there doing what you do, so I think it's really special that we get to celebrate that.

SPEAKER_04 14:38

Thank you. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 14:41

Been doing this uh with Noah for ten plus years, and uh it's never a problem to find uh a hometown hero. To pour a cup of kindness, we like to call it. Yes, and that's what we do on Friday mornings is uh pour a cup of kindness and let you know. And it's a natural that the George Real Estate Group sponsors uh such a program because you guys benefit from this wonderful community we live in and these people that do what they do.

SPEAKER_03 15:13

Yeah, we truly live in the best community. There's nothing quite like Hendersonville, I think. I grew up here, so I'm a little partial.

SPEAKER_01 15:21

Yeah, we didn't ask you, Holly, where's uh where did you grow up?

SPEAKER_05 15:25

Are you a native or I grew up right outside of Charlotte and Gastonia?

SPEAKER_01 15:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 15:29

I live in South Ashville now.

SPEAKER_01 15:32

Okay, so do I. Well, again, it's uh privilege to talk with uh Holly from uh the uh TIP program, the trauma intervention program, your website once again, Holly.

SPEAKER_05 15:45

It's Tip of Wnc.org. That's T-I-P-O-F-W N C dot O-R-G.

SPEAKER_01 15:52

And Amy, uh websites and social medias and all of the above, and uh phone number and anything that you guys can remember right off the if you just type in us on the spot by Amy Team, Hendersonville, North Carolina, you can find us that way online.

SPEAKER_03 16:09

Okay and George Real Estate Group also. If you Google that, you'll find us.

SPEAKER_01 16:14

Sounds great. Thank you so much for coming out to visit with us today, ladies. And uh remember that we're always searching for hometown heroes. If you have a nomination, well, get in touch with us here at info at WHKP.com. The George Real Estate Group is located in Flat Rock, North Carolina, near Hendersonville in Henderson County. You can find them online at realestatebygreg.com. The George Real Estate Group can be reached at 828-3930134 or stop by their office at 2720 Greenville Highway, Flat Rock, North Carolina. Tune in live each week on Thursdays at 1005 a.m. on WHKP 107.7 FM and 1450 AM, or stream online at WHKP.com, or download these podcasts wherever you get your podcasts. The George Real Estate Group brings you the WHKP Hometown Hero Series every Friday morning at 8.45.

Closing Sponsor Message

SPEAKER_00 17:20

Maybe the house feels a little too big these days. The stairs a little steeper. The pace of life a little too fast. But what if your next move wasn't about letting go? It was about making space for peace, for freedom, for what matters most. At the George Real Estate Group, we understand that real estate isn't just about the house. It's about transitions, timing, and trust. We've helped thousands of families in Western North Carolina make smart, thoughtful moves. Closer to nature, closer to family, closer to home. So when you're ready to rise size, simplify, or start fresh, we'll be here. The George Real Estate Group. Local, trusted, proven. Call us today, 828-393-0134. Find us online at realestatebygreg.com because your next chapter deserves to feel just right.