Newly Created and Updated Resources

Greetings colleagues,

We know that as you and your communities continue to serve survivors during this COVID-19 crisis, that it is important that you have the most up-to-date resources and materials to better assist the survivors you work with. Although these resources are not all COVID-19 specific, they all provide guidance and best practices that will hopefully be helpful at any time.

Choosing Digital Service Platform Step-by-Step Guide

Available in English and Spanish:
As programs continue to manage navigating the shift from face-to-face advocacy to tele-advocacy, online, or mobile advocacy, it may be difficult to figure out how and where to start the process of choosing and setting up digital services. Before going through this step-by-step plan, please read our Using Technology to Communicate with Survivors During a Public Health Crisis Post.

Working Remotely: Tips for Setting Up Phones

Available in English and Spanish:
Whether advocates are asked to temporarily work from home or they work remotely as part of their regular schedule, being able to securely receive and send calls, text messages, and chats is critical. This guide answers common questions around setting up phones when working remotely.

FAQs for Victim Service Programs About HIPAA Privacy, HIPAA Security, and Technology

Available in English (in Spanish soon):
Designed to help local programs understand the nuances of HIPAA Privacy, HIPAA Security, and what the term “HIPAA-compliant” may (or may not) mean when used by technology vendors to market their product. The also explores how such products may or may not provide appropriate privacy protections to help comply with VAWA confidentiality obligations.

Website Safety & Privacy

Recently Updated and Available in English and Spanish:

Visiting a website can leave a digital trail and, for survivors, can create safety and privacy risks. While it may not be possible to completely eliminate risks, through web design and by including content on safety and privacy, you can increase survivors’ awareness and provide options. This revised resource includes tips to help minimize the safety and privacy risks on your program’s website.

How to Talk with Survivors About Safe Methods of Contact & corresponding Safe Contact Intake Form

Available in English and Spanish:
The ways that a survivor wants to communicate with your program should match their needs. A program should never contact a survivor in a way that the survivor has not specifically indicated is safe and private. These resources can help advocates identify safe ways to contact survivors.

Online Support Groups: Best Practices

Available in English and Spanish:
Online support groups can be a valuable way to for survivors to connect with support and other survivors when they are not able to meet in person. There are a wide variety of technology options to connect survivors using technology, including online forums where survivors can read and post messages at any time, and real-time online group web chats or video calls.

Client Information Databases & Confidentiality: A Comprehensive Guide for Service Providers

Available in English (in Spanish soon):
This is both an overview of key data and confidentiality concepts, and a guide to the many considerations that must be weighed when selecting a database, which include: purpose, confidentiality, data security, and program capacity (including costs, technology and staffing). This is intended primarily for community-based victim service programs that are legally obligated under VAWA, FVPSA, and VOCA to maintain confidentiality.

Tips for Using Video Hosting and Sharing Sites

Available in English:

With more people being home due to social distancing, watching videos on YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, and more means that we are able to access fun as well as informational content like never before. While video content on these platforms can open doors to new information and resources, survivors of violence who watch should be aware of the related risks that come with watching videos in these spaces. This handout can help survivors think through how they use video hosting sites and strategies for managing risks.

Using Zoom: Safety, Privacy and Confidentiality Considerations

Available in English (in Spanish soon):

With physical distancing measures in place, many organizations and individuals have turned to video conferencing as a way to connect. Zoom has been one of the most asked-about tools. As is the case with any tool, there are going to be benefits and risks for survivor safety and privacy, accessibility, and organizations’ confidentiality obligations. This guide is to help programs understand Zoom and ways to utilize the safety and privacy features Zoom has to offer to help maintain confidentiality.

We are always working to keep our materials relevant and updated. If you have any questions about our materials or resources, please reach out to us at safetynet@nnedv.org.

In peace and tech safety.

Coercive Control During the Pandemic: How Abusers Are Using New Tactics to Exert Power and Control

The COVID-19 pandemic has created a shift throughout the nation and the world.  With stay-at-home and social distancing orders in place across the U.S., victims of domestic and sexual violence are being forced further into seclusion with abusive partners. For many, the threat of physical and emotional violence will dominate their lives more than ever before.

This is an extremely vulnerable time for survivors, and abusers are using it as an excuse to find new ways to exert control. Some of those tactics include feigning illness, not allowing family members to interact or go outside the home at all, withdrawing all money out of bank accounts, contacting the survivor’s work and falsely stating they were exposed to the virus, etc. While some of these tactics may be new and based on the public health crisis, the dynamics of power and control remain the same.

Across the country and world, there has been a serious uptick in domestic violence related crimes. Direct service agencies are seeing an influx of new cases and in some jurisdictions, law enforcement are responding to more calls. This means that survivors need support, resources, services, and shelter more than ever. Fortunately, shelters and other resources remain open during this time as essential businesses.

Some providers have had to close their physical doors, but have remained open in their services, using digital options such as chat and video, to provide services. Many courthouses have also moved to digital services by offering remote hearings for protection orders or are extending orders until the pandemic passes. If you or your agency are considering digital services, please see our Digital Services Toolkit. Here you can find information about best practices when communicating with survivors using technology. You can also access many other resources on our COVID-19 Resources page on TechSafety.org and on NNEDV’s COVID response page.    

It still remains critical, even while many things are rapidly changing, to always assess for safety and privacy risks and conduct on-going safety planning in the safest and most strategic way. We hope these resources help service providers to do that easily with the many new tools they are working to implement.

Similarly, we have also created two new resources for survivors and friends/family. Seeking Help Online: National Resources and Considerations for Safety and Privacy for Survivors provides considerations for maintaining safety and privacy when accessing online help. In partnership with Facebook, we also produced the resource, Tips for Helping a Friend Experiencing Domestic Abuse During COVID-19.

Our colleagues at the Battered Justice Women’s Project have also produced a short video on Coercive Control During COVID-19: New Tactics. Please feel free to post any of these on your website and share widely.

We wish you health during this time. If you or someone you know may need to speak to someone about what they are experiencing, visit this list of National Hotlines.

What’s New: Changes and Details with Communication Platforms

As you know, technology is ever-evolving. With the sudden need of programs to rapidly switch to digital services during COVID-19, NNEDV’s Safety Net team is working diligently to keep the field up-to-date on all of the changes and new information we receive. We have been talking with companies, testing products, and working to better understand how each platform works, and the implications of using them.

Many of our recent conversations with companies have been fruitful. We have been double-checking their features, and looking at their privacy and security options, accessibility features, and policies on sharing and storing data. Excitingly, some are moving to make changes we have suggested, and beginning to plan for how they can incorporate our feedback to not only better enhance their products, but to ensure their products can be used by all, especially those with strict confidentiality obligations. 

The following are some of the new details we want to share. Please note, we do not endorse any one of these products. We cannot recommend software products or say if a product is or isn’t compliant with the federal confidentiality laws. What we can do is offer information we gather from the software companies, and information about best practices related to confidentiality, privacy, and safety while using technology to communicate with survivors. Use our Video Conferencing & Digital Communication Platforms Chart to learn more.  

1. Gruveo is now offering a free 45-day trial during this public health crisis and has instituted a 20% discount for all non-profits.

2. ResourceConnect is offering online chat for free during this pandemic.

3. Cyph is offering a discount for its telehealth package.

4. Doxy.me is offering services for free for a limited time for new customers and has an additional privacy protection option available with a signed agreement.

5. Zoom has an additional privacy protection that stops the company from collecting user (survivor) identifying data when the agency signs an additional agreement. Depending on the subscription you already have, this additional feature may come with a cost. Zoom discounts available through TechSoup.org.

6. News reports have come out about “Zoombombing.” If using Zoom for public purposes (where link is shared widely), make sure to change the default setting so that only the Host can share their screen or files, and use options to mute/unmute participants.

We have seen an overwhelming amount of questions about what company to choose. We have created a new resource to help programs compare services and understand their options. We encourage you to use this information along with information from the vendors directly to make agency-specific decisions. We also have a new handout on Digital Written Consent to Share Information.

 We are constantly learning and advocating for important changes. We will work to keep this new chart and other resources updated with the information we know about these vendors as it becomes available.