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Note: In an effort to disrupt the idea that only men perpetrate abuse, the pronouns used on this web site and in our literature that refer to perpetrators are predominantly female. Feel free to imagine the information using varied gender pronouns, such as he, ze or s/he.
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If You Think You, or Someone You Love, might be in an abusive relationship, you can call us for support or more information.
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SERVICES:
The Northwest Network offers the following services and programs. Please follow the links below for details, or contact us for more information.
- Advocacy
- Individual Counseling
- Safety Planning
- Support Groups
- Q&A for Advocates
- Voices In Power (VIP)
- Training for Service Providers
- Community Education
Because sexual minority and gender variant people are often denied access to benefits, protections and institutions enjoyed by others, addressing issues such as health care, family leave, protection orders, immigration issues, child custody, dissolution of property, public assistance, housing, job discrimination and other basic concerns for survivors may prove particularly difficult and overwhelming. Our staff offer culturally competent and relevant support for survivors as they navigate difficult-often homophobic and transphobic-systems.
Individual Counseling
Individual counseling may focus on a variety of areas as directed by the survivor, but often includes problem solving around ongoing safety concerns identifying and healing from emotional and sexual abuse, addressing friends/family's homophobia and denial of same sex domestic violence, maintaining community connections, and navigating new romantic relationships. Survivors who choose to stay with an abusive partner often seek support to develop "harm-reduction" strategies and their sense of personal agency within their relationship. Those who end their relationships often seek support around living within a small community with an abusive ex-partner. Individual counseling supports survivors to be compassionate with themselves regarding their survival skills while remaining accountable for how these skills are used in new relationships.
Safety Planning
Safety planning supports survivors in the ongoing process of making choices that may increase a sense of safety, well-being and personal agency. Survivors who seek support from our agency often do not choose to access the criminal justice system or law enforcement as means of protection. Safety planning, therefore, involves a great deal of creativity in identifying and accessing other community supports.
Because of the insular nature of our communities and the importance for survivors to break isolation and develop/ maintain community connections; safety planning routinely involves survivors expecting to be at events, parties and the like with abusive ex-partners. As a result, "skills-sharing", such as de-escalation & boundary setting strategies, is a priority.
Support Groups
Support groups provide a space for sexual minority and gender variant survivors to tell their stories, process trauma, share information, and both offer and receive support. Our weekly, on-going groups strive to create an environment that embodies safety and compassion-as well as integrity and accountability. Groups create a space to share grief and pain about traumatic experiences at the same time as affirming a survivor's personal agency and commitment to being her best self. Groups also provide extremely isolated survivors an opportunity to re-connect with other lbtg people.
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