Message to Survivors and Other Community Members about COVID-19

While there is much uncertainty right now due to COVID-19, what is certain is that TNLR is here for survivors. We are monitoring recommendations of the World Health Organization and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, and making decisions that are grounded in preserving the safety of survivors, staff, volunteers, and the community at large. With this in mind we have suspended our in-person services for the time being, but our hotline and other services remain open.

Our hotline is available 24/7 for survivors and their loved ones who are supporting them. Our housing program, phone-based support groups, and phone advocacy services all remain open and can be accessed through our hotline. Our outreach materials are still available and while we are unable to currently hold in-person trainings about LGBQ/T partner abuse we are working on setting up the technology for us to do so remotely. Visit our website or follow us on Facebook and Instagram for updates on our ability to offer our trainings online. Visit ww.tnlr.org for more details about all of our services.

During this time of social distancing and possible quarantine, more than ever survivors will be isolated. Being confined to a home that is not safe will lead to escalations of abuse and removes tools of survival such as being able to leave the house to escape or de-escalate abuse. It is therefore important that we as a community stay as connected as possible to survivors and offer our support. The important thing is connection. The Network/La Red is here to not only support survivors but also to support friends and family in supporting survivors. Call us to think through how you can be there for the survivors you know.

In times of crisis and fear the most marginalized are the ones most impacted. For many in our communities, mandates of working from home, school closings and recommendations/directives of quarantine and social isolation will bring economic hardship, the risk of losing homes, and decreased access to food, mental health supports and other losses. The xenophobia and racism that has been directed towards Asian and specifically Chinese folks is an example of yet another way that this crisis is impacting communities. We support the Chinese and Asian communities and ask everyone to not let fear change our values.

We must be led by our belief in anti-oppression work and sit in solidarity with everyone who will be impacted by oppression. In the words of the Prevention Institute: "Coronavirus has revealed deep inequities in our society...The way we respond to the coronavirus crisis will show who we are as a society. Every decision that we make in the coming days—at every level of society, from the federal government down to the individual—will have repercussions for how this pandemic unfolds. Therefore, we must all think of one another and especially about those on whom this epidemic will fall most heavily. Anyone who was skeptical about the claim that we’re only as healthy as the least healthy person among us has surely now come to understand how their lives are intertwined with everyone else’s."

Please take care of yourselves and each other, and give us a call if we can be of support.

Community Services:

• 24/7 hotline operating as normal. Open 24/7, free and confidential. (800) 832-1901
• Phone-based support groups operating as normal
• Individual Support. All in-person services are suspended until further notice, but both supportive counseling and advocacy services are being done over the phone.

Housing Pathways:

• Transitional Housing – all services are operating as normal, except that all in-person work is suspended, so one-on-one meetings, supportive counseling, and advocacy are all happening via phone
• Safehome – we have increased our safehome capacity and all services are operating as normal, except that all in-person work is suspended, so one-on-one meetings, supportive counseling, and advocacy are all happening via phone

The Network/La Red does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, retaliation, parental status, military service, or other non-merit factor.