A Guide for Anti-Violence Organizations

Text messaging can be an effective tool to stay connected and keep survivors engaged. It can also be helpful when a survivor needs information quickly and cannot speak on the phone. Sometimes, texting may be more reliable than connecting through a phone call. Texting is best as a form of communication when used to supplement in-person meetings or phone calls. Texting-only relationships between anti-violence workers and survivors can be challenging because of safety and privacy concerns discussed below. An anti-violence worker and survivor may only be able to text in certain circumstances, in which case, it is recommended that workers check in regularly about privacy and safety considerations and explore safer texting options.

Documentation

Unlike a verbal conversation, texts contain a full history of the conversation. This means that if someone has access to a survivor’s phone, they can read the entire thread of a conversation between the survivor and their worker. This can have major implications for security and privacy. On the employee’s side, the phone also contains a history of the conversation, which could be accessible by colleagues or other third parties who have access to the employee’s phone.

Impersonation

When texting, it is difficult to be sure that the person you are texting with is in fact the survivor and not someone pretending to be them. Mobile phones are mobile, small, and easily accessible by roommates, friends, family, and even the perpetrator. If the survivor’s mobile phone does not have a passcode on it (or another person knows what the code is), the phone is accessible in order to view and respond to text messages.

Miscommunication

Texting lacks the nuance of in-person and over-the-phone communications. What might be conveyed by body language or tone of voice is missing in texts, and text messages might be perceived as short or insensitive, or simply unclear. The employee may not be able to perceive a survivor’s intended meaning accurately. In addition, the many acronyms and abbreviations used in text messaging may not have the same meaning or connotation to the recipient or sender.

Use an Organizational Mobile Phone

It is better to use a dedicated work mobile phone owned by your organization when texting or calling survivors. The organization’s privacy policies should govern the use of a work mobile phone. Significant privacy and confidentiality concerns arise when using a personal phone to communicate with survivors. These concerns are detailed below. Also see Mobile Phone Use: A Guide for Anti-Violence Organizations for more on mobile phone best practices.

Limit Survivor Information in Contacts

Save as little information as possible and when the communication is over, delete the contact information from the phone.

Delete Text History Logs

When appropriate, consider periodically deleting conversations, so the phone does not store months (if not years) of text conversations between survivors and employees on mobile phones.

Check in Regularly about Security and Privacy

It is easy to become comfortable with texting and assume that the person you are texting with is a survivor. Check in with the person you are supporting through other ways, such as a phone call, video chat, or if possible, an in-person meeting.

Be Aware of the Potential for Miscommunication

Like email, it is easy to miss or misread emotional cues in text communications. Check in regularly to make sure that you both are communicating in a productive and useful manner.

Set Expectations and Boundaries

Before texting, always have a conversation with the survivor about when you can text each other. Set boundaries and expectations so a survivor knows your available work hours, when you can and cannot respond to a text message, and what resources are available to her after hours.

Recommend the Deletion of Text History Logs

Talk to survivors about deleting sent and received messages, as well as the organization’s number, from their text log to ensure their safety and security.

Determine with Her If It Is Safe to Keep the Support Worker’s Name and Phone Number in Her Contacts

If a perpetrator is monitoring her phone (either because he has physical access to her phone or can monitor it remotely), it might not be safe for her to store the worker’s name and phone number in her contacts. This conversation can be part of safety planning with the survivor.

Encourage Survivors to Check in Regularly

Because texting may not be the best method for communicating about safety planning and risk factors, encourage her to check in using other methods via a phone call, video call, or an in-person meeting rather than only communicating through text.

If an anti-violence worker uses their personal mobile phone to text with participants, resulting privacy and safety issues to consider are:

• The survivor will know the worker’s personal phone number. Unlike phone calls, when you text, you cannot make your number “private.” This could become a safety issue if the perpetrator discovers the employee’s personal phone number. It can also make it difficult for employees to set boundaries as to when they are available and not available for work.
• If workers are using their personal phones, third parties, family, and friends may access their phones and see confidential text conversations between the worker and a survivor. This is a potential privacy and confidentiality breach under certain privacy laws.
• If workers store confidential text communications on their phones, the phone could be subpoenaed in court proceedings if litigants believed the phone contained information relevant to a court proceeding.
• When an employee leaves a job, the organization loses control over any information stored on the phone, since the phone belongs to the employee

Because of the inherent lack of privacy with texting, some organizations have considered using third-party texting apps. Some of these apps allow text messages to disappear after a period of time and include more secure encryption. There are pros and cons to using these third-party texting services.

The benefits are that some of the apps/services offer additional features, such as:

• Messages can be set to disappear after a certain period.
• Additional encryption, making the messages less vulnerable to “hacks.”
• Access to the service from a tablet, computer, or another phone, which can be helpful if a survivor’s phone has been compromised or if she gets a new phone.
• It can be another method of communication if the survivor believes the perpetrator is monitoring her texts.

The risks posed by these apps/services include:

• Downloading a messaging app or service could be inconvenient and/or unsafe for a survivor if a perpetrator is monitoring the apps and services they download.
• Most (if not all) of the third-party messaging app/services require the user to create an account. Depending on how they set up the account, it could inform a perpetrator that they have downloaded a new messaging service.
• Because the apps/services are accessible via different devices, this also means that if the perpetrator has access to the survivor’s digital devices and passwords, he could be monitoring the text messages without having access to her phone. Be sure to go through the security and privacy settings on these apps to make sure no one else is accessing the account.

• Some third-party apps/services require access to other content on the phone, such as contacts or photos. Anti-violence workers should check to see if the survivor is comfortable with sharing that access and consider opting out.
• Some messaging apps/services, when connected to the survivor’s contacts, inform people in her contact list who are also using the same messaging app/service that she has an account. The survivor may not want others to know that she is using the third-party messaging app/service. Learn what type of access, connections, and automatic sharing the app does and see if the participant can opt out of those connections and sharing.

In some cases, organizations may want to include texting as a way for women, children, and youth to contact a 24/7 crisis/helpline. Shelters and transition houses can do so in a safer way by using a web-based SMS text platform. For example, the Ottawa Coalition to End Violence against Women launched Unsafeathomeottawa.ca in April 2020 to enable women to safely text domestic violence support workers.

Investing in a crisis line via text through an SMS text web-based platform is an important consideration because texting is not anonymous. The person texting cannot hide her phone number when she texts (unless she uses a virtual number, which although doable is uncommon). As a result, the organization managing the text crisis/helpline will be collecting mobile phone numbers from the text messages. If the crisis/helpline promises anonymity, the organization will need to implement privacy policies as to how it collects, retains, and deletes this information. Organizational billing records may also contain actual phone numbers associated with the text messages. Shelters and transition houses need to adopt privacy policies as to who can have access to those billing records and how they are maintained under records management guidelines.

Consider Treating Text Messages the Same Way as Phone Conversations

The organization’s privacy policies can consider not recording or keeping the phone number or text log of a crisis/helpline text conversation. If the crisis/helpline does not record and keep phone calls, text conversations can be managed in the same way to maintain the anonymity and privacy of the person who texted/called.

Assess for Safety

Although a text crisis/helpline may not be conducive to a thorough intake, organizations should still assess for safety and inform the survivor of support and safety planning resources. Regarding privacy of the text messaging, employees can advise the texting person of the organization’s privacy policies, the need to make mandatory reporting disclosures, and tips on safe texting practices.

To support your development of safe tech use policies, WSC has developed a Use of Technology Policy Template Guide for Women’s Shelters and Transition Houses (PDF, in English only).

Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TFGBV) is part of a continuum of violence that can be both online and in-person. If you or someone you know is experiencing TFGBV, you are not alone. You can use sheltersafe.ca to find a shelter/transition house near you to discuss options and create a safety plan. You don’t need to stay in a shelter to access free, confidential services and support.

Adapted for Canada with permission from NNEDV’s Safety Net project, based on their resource Organization’s Guide for Texting.