As a social justice-focused trauma practice, we know that getting a good outcome in therapy sometimes has a lot to do with access, resources, cash flow, and wealth. In practice, this means low-income survivors are the most likely to not be able to afford care, to drop out of therapy because of problems with insurance, to miss appointments because of transportation problems or other crises, and to not be well-resourced to do actual trauma healing work, since the moment-to-moment demands of survival can be entirely too much on their own.
Inner Justice Works Detroit is proud to partner with our incredible allies at Great Lakes Water Protector Network, who were kind enough to offer short-term fiduciary services as we become an official nonprofit! Though this alliance, we are able to bring our clients a growing Rapid Response Fund.
The Inner Justice Works Detroit Rapid Response Fund is our dedicated fund to support our current clients facing immediate, unexpected, or critical short-term financial barriers to accessing care, and/or urgent threats to their immediate safety and survival.
At this time, access to the Inner Justice Works Detroit Rapid Response Fund is limited to our current active clients, and support is available as funds allow. We’ll be adding to this fund with a combination of values-aligned philanthropic support, targeted grant funds, and our practitioners’ contributed donations of their fee-for-service contractual earnings.
As a nonprofit trauma therapy practice guided by social justice principles, Inner Justice Works’ mission is not only to provide direct social work services to our clients, but also to do everything we can to create the conditions for those we care for to access care and wellness. For so many of the oppressed folks we support — low-income survivors who don’t have safety, many of whom are trans, queer, Disabled, BIPOC, and/or survivors of severe abuse and violence — that occasionally means needing actual cash.
Over the years we’ve spent learning to support our community’s most under-resourced survivors, we encounter repeated moments when lack of access to funds has put our survivor clients at risk of homelessness, life-threatening medical neglect, further criminalization by state agencies, or even simply lapses in insurance coverage leading to missed time in care when it’s needed most.
To address this issue, we are starting a Rapid Response Fund — a small pocket of dollars we tuck away for crises that arise in the lives of our current clients.
The fund will be used to…
- Pay rent for survivors fleeing abuse or facing homelessness or eviction
- Cover fees for short-term / unexpected lapses in normal insurance coverage
- Offset copays and deductibles for low-income clients who struggle to pay their private insurance rates (often young adults on parents’ insurance)
- Provide emergency cash assistance to offset temporary lapses in food security
- Assisting survivors in paying for small / limited fees and bills associated with the costs of accessing care, support, or legal help after an acute trauma
- Helping trans / nonbinary clients pay for the costs of name changes and gender / sex marker changes on identification
- Providing short-term cash assistance to low-income survivors who are struggling to access their medications (this is for short-term needs. Folks who need support addressing long-term lack of access will have a chance to receive case management help.)
- Other needs as identified that help our current / existing clients deal with immediate / unexpected and critical financial need that impacts their safety, survival, wellness, or access to care
Please also get in touch if you are able to offer any of the below requested in-kind donations. These are items our clients have asked to seek on their behalf, to help them navigate current stressors and work towards their therapy goals. Thank you so much for supporting our client community ❤
- 3 box / window fans
- 2 window air conditioner units
This fund is designed to provide our clients with the basics they need in order to create the conditions for full participation in trauma therapy. We believe that, more often than anyone wants to admit, clients struggle to make progress in therapy because of real life problems that all-too-frequently come down to dollars and cents. That’s where we’re helping out — and requesting your support!
It’s our attempt to make trauma care more equitable and accessible for everyone. Donors who chose to share their names or emails may be added to our mailing list for future updates on our work.
Thank you for your solidarity and support of our critical care work to support and show up for oppressed survivors every day.
Inner Justice Works 