The Harbor temporarily suspends walk-in services
The Harbor, an Astoria nonprofit that advocates for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, has suspended walk-in services until early June.
In a Facebook post, the organization shared that it would be using the time to reorganize and focus on collective training and healing in response to organizational trauma, burnout and staff turnover.
The Harbor
“I think we just really want to take a deep breath and figure out where we’re going, what’s next?” Terri Steenbergen, The Harbor’s executive director, said. “None of us can work at this crazy pace all the time, and that’s sort of what’s been asked of people.”
The Harbor is Clatsop County’s only designated service provider for survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence. Although walk-in services have been paused, the nonprofit is still offering critical outreach, including shelter screenings, support for sexual assault forensic exams and advocacy and in-person responses to requests from law enforcement and hospitals.
Steenbergen said people can access emergency services by calling The Harbor’s 24/7 crisis support line.
For emotional support and safety planning, The Harbor has also posted a list of additional resources on its website, including phone numbers for the National Domestic Violence Hotline and the RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline.
“Anybody who’s experienced a sexual assault or needs shelter or relocation, they can get through the phone tree and then we’ll just be available to them,” Steenbergen said.
When the coronavirus pandemic hit, Steenbergen said many social services agencies received additional funding to support their work. Since then, The Harbor has seen an increased and more complex caseload, but those pandemic-era resources haven’t necessarily followed.
Steenbergen said working with people who have experienced extreme trauma is exhausting and emotionally taxing, especially with limited resources. In Clatsop County, a lack of housing also means fewer safe places to go for someone leaving an abusive situation.
“The combination of those two things really starts to wear on advocates and coordinators and managers, you know, the whole office really, and that makes it also hard for us to maintain staff,” she said.
In the coming weeks, The Harbor will be engaging in conversations and training to focus on regrouping and paving a sustainable path forward. Steenbergen said she anticipates walk-in services to resume after June 3.
“It was really hard to say, ‘Hey, we’re gonna scale back our services to sort of just the emergency stuff, because we really need the space and we won’t have the ability to actually serve the community if all of us are struggling ourselves,’” she said.
