Technology Abuse Clinics for Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence

Perpetrators of intimate partner violence (IPV) use digital technologies to cause lasting physical, and financial, and psychological harm. Advocates and scholars have established the prevalence of technology abuse, but IPV agencies often lack the capacity, training and resources needed to recognize and respond to technology abuse.

The Clinic to End Tech Abuse (CETA) and the Technology Enabled Coercive Control Initiative (TECCI) are services that partner with IPV agencies to offer free, consultative services to survivors of IPV who are experiencing tech abuse. Collectively, they have served nearly 700 survivors in the New York City and Seattle areas by identifying points of compromise on their devices and developing technology-specific safety plans. However, both clinics have struggled to keep pace with demands for their services.

In this talk, we present a vision for how a network of localized, community-based technology abuse clinics might be able to meet the challenges of scale. We also share our new toolkit, a resource based on our collected experiences which we intend as a guide for other stakeholders interested in creating and sustaining their own technology abuse clinics.