This piece is written by Louisse Katherine S. Gappi, Junior Project Officer of Lunas Collective, part of the team leading the chat helpline operations.
On February 6, 2026, we met with our funding partner, EMpower–The Emerging Markets Foundation, to discuss in detail our chat helpline service, which has been volunteer-driven since our inception in 2020.. The Lunas Collective core team and helpline volunteers welcomed the EMpower team represented by Coory Pakpahan (Programme Officer for East and Southeast Asia), Deborah Diedericks (Global Mental Health Lead), and Simren Sekhon (Development Manager for Asia).
The meeting started with an introduction to the current gender-based violence (GBV) situation in the Philippines and Lunas Collective’s response and care framework. Our volunteers then shared their personal experiences with practicing their advocacy and finding a community through the helpline. One volunteer expressed that the helpline was a way for them to ground their studies in real life while another said that joining the volunteer pool was a step in their healing as a victim-survivor themselves. This sharing was followed by a brief simulation of chat helpline operations by the volunteers present.
Our chat helpline was established in 2020 as a response to rising rates of GBV, particularly domestic abuse, during the COVID-19 lockdown. It remains volunteer-powered, offering psychosocial first aid and appropriate referrals to individuals experiencing distress related to GBV or sexual and reproductive health concerns. Since then, we have branched out to conducting other programs promoting survivor autonomy and feminist care, such as #DearSurvivor, while keeping our chat helpline consistently operational.
If you are someone you know suffers from GBV and related concerns, the helpline is online from Mondays to Saturdays, 1:00 PM to 7:00 PM through the Lunas Collective Facebook page.