During this pandemic, Quaker House of Fayetteville, N.C., has been able to continue with its mission to work for peace and to support individuals who have been harmed by military service.
One of its main programs is with the GI Rights Hotline—counselors who assist active-duty personnel who call in from across the world. Due to the nature of that work, it has always been mainly over the phone and Internet, which turned out to be critical. National Guard units were activated to help in COVID-19 hot spots, and then also with the upswing in energy surrounding race and policing following the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and so many others. The nature of the calls and the quickly changing military policies prompted the network to increase the frequency of counselor collaboration calls from once a month to twice a month.
Another major program at Quaker House is its free counseling program addressing issues of domestic violence, sexual assault, moral injury, and post-traumatic stress. A licensed clinical social worker is available for active-duty and veteran service members and their families. Quaker House’s therapist easily transitioned clients to a HIPAA-compliant teletherapy platform. Currently, North Carolina clients can choose to continue teletherapy or to come in person (with infection control precautions in place).
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