The other day while on the Crisis line, I had a caller who
was trying to find shelter from her abusive husband and a safe place for her
and her children. The night before, her husband
had verbally abused her in front of the children and then tried to pull the
child from her arms, in the process the child’s head snapped back and hit the
car door. The boy was left with a big bruise on his fore head. The father
continued to yell at the mother. The mother did end up going to her grandmother’s
house for safety. The victim and I
talked about her goals, plans, support if she came into shelter, and I provided
her with a lot of emotional support. I
wrote down her information and let her know I would be returning her call soon.
While I was staffing the call, the husband came to the home
and began to bang on the door. She called law enforcement and then called the
Crisis line again. She stated,
“I had to call you back, I didn’t know what to
do. My grandmother and my kids are afraid. He’s banging on the door and
windows.”
I stayed on the line with her and explained to her how important it
was for her to wait until the police arrived.
TI cannot emphasize the importance of a 24 hour Crisis line for victims to call
and receive support and resources. This situation could
have turned out much differently if she didn’t have the support from an advocate and the ability
to reach someone at any time on the Crisis line.
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