Social Justice-Informed Trauma Treatment & Gender Care

Connect to Your Community <3

One thing that sets our practice apart from others is that, as therapists committed to working within oppressed communities for healing justice, we know clinical care is only one piece of what’s important for our community. As such, we integrate linkage-to-community supports, through helping our most isolated clients identify and connect to safe communities where they find not only acceptance, but a way to help others, make change, give back, and resist injustice. We believe this element of connection to community and to resistance is what’s missing from the therapy so many oppressed people receive. Check out the listed resources below to get started on your journey of connection to community. Even in moments of crisis and overwhelm, opportunities to give back and build community can be the thing that matters most.

Support Groups of All Kinds

Trans-Specific Resources

Support Groups + In-Person Community for Trans people

Trans Community Spaces that aren’t Locally-Based

Mutual Aid + Community-Fueled Emergency Funds

Unsure what mutual aid is? Let Dean Spade explain it to you…

Legal Resources and Advocacy

Support for Victims + Survivors of Torture, Human Trafficking, + Organized and Extreme Abuse (OEA)

  • Sanctum House – Shelter for cis women and emergency support (non-gender-specific) for survivors of human trafficking in Southeast Michigan
  • SIGH Impact – Supporting, Impacting, Giving Hope – A local nonprofit providing crisis support and response for trafficking victims and survivors, local youth, and unhoused community members
  • Haven Homes of Detroit – Provides housing and other supports to women in Detroit who have survived human trafficking
  • Avalon Healing Center provides a range of supports to survivors of domestic and sexual violence, including survivors of human sex trafficking
  • Survivorship online community and clinical training for the treatment of survivors of organized and extreme abuse, ritual abuse, and torture-based mind control
  • Cupp of Hope Support Groups for Survivors of Torture and Ritual Abuse and Mind Control

Free/Low-Cost Furniture, Household Goods, + Other Basics

  • St Vincent De Paul of Detroit – Low cost thrift items, and some people receiving social work services (including current Inner Justice Works clients) may be eligible for limited free items such as furniture, clothing, or household basics
  • Furniture Bank of SE Michigan – Free furniture for low-income Oakland county residents who qualify
  • Goodwill Industries of Greater Detroit – – Low cost thrift items, and some people receiving social work services (including current Inner Justice Works clients) may be eligible for limited free items such as furniture, clothing, or household basics
  • The Capuchin Services Center of the Capuchin Soup Kitchen – Provides food, clothing, furniture, and other household items to qualifying low-income community members
  • Wayne/Metro Community Action Agency – founded by the 1964 Economic Opportunity Act to fight poverty by empowering the poor as part of the War on Poverty. Wayne/Metro offers assistance in accessing / applying for te Low-Income Home Energy Assistance (LIHEAP) utility grants and Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) funded through the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), as well as the HOPE fund for low-income Detroit homeowners to maintain their properties.
  • Matrix Human Services – Educating Children, Supporting Families and Rebuilding Neighborhoods. Operating multiple programs in more than 30 Detroit locations, Matrix provides services to more than 20,000 individuals and families annually and operates the largest Head Start program in Detroit serving more than 1,900 children.
  • Franklin Wright Settlements – A cornerstone of strength in supporting individuals, families and groups on the east side of Detroit and throughout the tri-county area

Transportation Resources

*Note that if you have Medicaid, your insurance will pay for free transportation to and from scheduled medical appointments (including therapy sessions). Because Inner Justice Works Detroit has a dispersed site location that is not identified on Google Maps, some Medicaid transportation services require additional verification steps to schedule your free ride to therapy. If you plan to use this benefit, please inform your therapist in advance, as we may need to take a call from your insurance provider in order to book your ride. Most plans require you to book 3 days in advance (however, there can be an option to expedite your booking for urgent/critical sessions).

Migrant and Immigrant Support

Know Your Rights when Encountering I.C.E.!

Youth Leadership Opportunities

  • Urban Neighborhood Initiatives offers a range of youth leadership opportunities in Southwest Detroit
  • Detroit Heals Detroit is a youth-led healing justice project, with a physical “hub” house on the East side of the City of Detroit
  • My Trans Voice (MyTV) is a southeast Michigan youth advisory council in collaboration with MOASH that focuses on the unique needs of transgender/non-binary youth. We have representatives (ages 13-21) from several counties (Livingston, Macomb, Monroe, Oakland, Washtenaw, Wayne, and St. Clair) and school districts across southeast Michigan. The goal of MyTV is to advocate for trans students in Michigan and to improve conditions for trans youth in their communities.
  • Alternatives For Girls is a nonprofit in Southwest Detroit with many opportunities for girls and young women to practice community leadership
  • Michigan Organization on Adolescent Sexual Health mobilizes youth and adult allies across the state to push policy and educate communities to support comprehensive sexual health education
  • MOASIC Youth Theater provides accessible theater programs for youth in Detroit
  • Inside Southwest provides arts programming for youth in Southwest Detroit
  • Detroit Area Youth Uniting Michigan (DAYUM) is a youth-led community organizing initiative that trains high school and middle school students to shift policy while practicing skill building in relationship
  • General Baker Institute provides political education and leadership opportunities for youth as well as adults
  • Michigan Student Power Alliance an intergenerational network that cultivates relational organizing, education, and a vast spectrum of care to sustain radical youth movements.
  • 482 Forward is a network of students and families from Southwest Detroit who advocate for policy change
  • Student Advocacy Center of Michigan is a nonprofit with multiple locations across the state the provides both advocacy supports and youth organizing training for Michigan students at risk of dropping out our being pushed out of school. They specifically commit to supporting students with disabilities, LGBTQ+ students, and Black and Brown students

BIPOC Queer Resources

Racial Justice + Abolitionist Organizing

Trans- and Queer-Affirming Medical Care Communities

Affordable Primary Care for Low-Income Folks

Other Medical and Healthcare Resources

Domestic Violence / Intimate Partner Violence + Human Trafficking Survivor + Victim Support

Emergency Shelters + Homeless Support Resources

  • Coordinated Assessment Model (Also known as: “The CAM Line”) – If you’re in need of an emergency place to stay, you can call the CAM Line, Monday – Friday during business hours, to request a referral to a shelter. Its a good idea to call CAM first if you think there is any chance you will want to go to a shelter, even if it’s not your first pick to do that. This is because most shelters in Detroit won’t accept you until you call CAM, and also CAM usually takes at least a day or two to identify a place for you. So if it’s early in the morning and you need a place to stay, calling and letting them know the situation can get that process started, while you spend the rest of the day trying to find other options. Calling CAM doesn’t normally activate any type of reporting system, and it doesn’t require you to go into a shelter. You should know that the CAM operators will call 911, and/or Child / Adult Protective Services if they feel there is immediate risk of you harming yourself or someone else, or if they suspect the abuse or neglect of a child or vulnerable adult. Some mandated reporters will make referrals to child protective services when they learn of minor children without secure housing, including heat, electricity, and running water.
  • Detroit Eviction Defense – These folks will organize to keep you from being evicted.
  • Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries – Emergency mens’ and womens’ shelters in Detroit
  • Operation Get Down – Emergency shelter for cis men and some other limited emergency mental health, addiction recovery, and related resources
  • Coalition on Temporary Shelter – COTS– Emergency mens’ and womens’ shelters in Detroit
  • Project NOAH– Emergency mens’ and womens’ shelters in Detroit
  • MCREST – Macomb County Rotating Emergency Shelter Team
  • Directory of Emergency Shelters in Oakland County
  • HomelessShelterDirectory.Org – Online database of emergency shelters
  • Shelterlistings.org – Online database of emergency shelters

Healing Justice + Abolitionist Care

Food Security + Food Resources / Access Support

Eating Disorder Support + Recovery

  • FEDUP support groups – for any trans, nonbinary, and/or intersex person experiencing any stage of an eating disorder, eating disorder recovery process, disordered eating, or struggles with food and body
  • Liberating Jasper runs low-cost online peer support groups for eating disorder harm reduction and recovery
  • FEAST – Support for parents and caregivers of children and youth with eating disorders
  • Sage and Spoon – Harm Reduction-Based Peer Support for BIPOC folks navigating eating disorders and disordered eating
  • Fat Liberation Archive
  • Project HEAL – Through direct support, education, and advocacy, we help people navigate eating disorder care while working to transform systems.

Restorative Practices, Transformative Justice, and Accountability Resources

Harm Reduction, Peer Support in Survival Economies, + Mutual Aid

Addiction Recovery + Harm Reduction Peer Support

Support for K-12 Students, Teens, and Youth

Vocational / Employment Support + Benefits

  • Michigan Rehabilitation Services – For support understanding and qualifying / applying for state and federal disability benefits and services. Some vocational training available through the Michigan Career and Technical Institute.
  • Job Accommodation Network – Hotline to learn your rights as an employee with a documented disability
  • Michigan Works – Vocational support for low-income folks in Michigan
  • All Well-Being Services – For adults in Detroit with mental illness and developmental disabilities
  • Grow Detroit’s Young Talent – Summer jobs for youth sponsored by the City of Detroit
  • Alternatives For Girls – Job readiness programs for teen girls and young women (sometimes open to other genders), as well as sex workers, former sex workers, and survivors/victims of trafficking
  • SER Metro – Vocational support for adults in Detroit
  • FOCUS: Hope – Offers vocational training in tree-trimming, medical assisting, information technology and IT development, construction pre-apprenticeship, industrial manufacturing, and logistics and transportation

Psychiatric Prescribers, Herbalists, Holistic Healers, Spiritual Support, and other allied providers we refer to