Following the Prime Minister’s announcement about the raised alert level due to the Covid-19 pandemic, our staff and volunteers will be working from home until the alert level is decreased. The safety and wellbeing of our staff and volunteers is of the utmost importance to us and we are checking in with them to make sure they are supported during this incredibly challenging time.
We want to acknowledge that on top of the massive struggle Aotearoa and the world are facing, there are unique ways in which this may negatively impact our rainbow communities. We want to make sure we are here to support our rainbow whānau, who may be feeling isolated from their communities, be stuck in unsupportive environments, or be facing difficulties accessing important services during this period.
OUTLine has been working on a system which will enable our trained volunteers to answer calls to our support line from home. We are optimistic about rolling this out very soon, but our service will experience some outages while this is implemented and our volunteers are trained on this new system. We encourage you to continue to call 0800 OUTLINE (688 5463) between 6-9pm if you need support. If we are unable to take your call please leave a voicemail so someone can get back to you once the service is running at full capacity again. If you require support more urgently you can call 1737 to speak to the national mental health line.
Our counselling service and transgender & non-binary peer support service will remain running via video calls, with existing clients being contacted to discuss how this will work. Our referral system for these services is still available online at outline.org.nz.
OUTLine will also continue to advocate for our rainbow communities during this pandemic. Please let us know of any specific areas you find that need to be addressed.
Our communities have shown time and time again that we are resilient to challenging times and as long as we find ways to stay connected and support each other we will be able to get through this. Be kind to yourself and others and don’t be afraid to ask for help.
Sending love from the OUTLine team.