April 14, 2020

It feels like our lives are changing every day as we grapple with new strategies for dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. One thing that has remained consistent is CAASE’s commitment to our mission. Sexual harm doesn’t stop when communal life pauses so we’ve made adjustments. While working remotely, we’re adapting our services so we can continue addressing the culture, institutions, and individuals that perpetrate, profit from, or support sexual harm.

CAASE’s Legal Services continue from a distance as our attorneys are conducting consultations over the phone. We are taking on new clients remotely, too. Though the courts are mostly closed, they are still open for emergency matters such as civil no-contact orders. We are working with domestic violence organizations to ensure that victims of gender-based violence who go to the courthouse still get connected with legal aid and advocates during the shelter-in-place order. Our Community Engagement work has also shifted to supporting survivors from afar.

In these isolating, high anxiety times, it is doubly important that people who’ve experienced trauma have opportunities for community. CAASE and Surviving the Mic are facilitating a weekly online space dedicated to the perspectives, experiences, and artistic expressions of survivors of sexual harm. Each one is shaped by what participants want to get out of the virtual gathering and includes a writing prompt. Our Community Engagement team is also keeping track of and sharing resources that are available to support survivors during these uncertain times.

As our government has shifted its attention and resources to deal with the crisis, our Public Policy and Advocacy team has turned its focus from initiatives it had planned to see move through the State legislature this session to issues highlighted by the pandemic. This includes supporting paid sick leave legislation and expanding options for victims seeking treatment after a sexual assault, especially as emergency rooms become overwhelmed dealing with COVID-19. They are also working on gathering data that will help identify opportunities for improving the ways sexual assault cases are handled by our local criminal justice system.

In light of school closures, our Prevention Education team is creating recorded lectures with supplemental handouts and worksheets so teachers can utilize our materials as assignments. Soon we will have a platform for students to submit questions directly to our educators and we plan to make FAQs and answers publically available.  Educators are also busy bolstering our curriculum by developing new facilitation guides for training partners.

Everyone at CAASE looks forward to the day we can share space with students, survivors, allies, and colleagues again. Until that joyful day arrives, we will continue to adapt and provide high-quality support to our community remotely. We may be separated but we are all in this together.