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Published on 11/30/1998 All articles from this issue

Domestic violence doesn't take a holiday

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By Joanne Griffith Domingue / Town Crier Staff Writer

Support Network for Battered Women offers tips for staying safe during the holidays

A recent look through the Los Altos police log gives tragic testimony to the fact that domestic violence doesn't take a holiday. Fortunately, the Mountain View-based Support Network for Battered Women doesn't take a holiday either, with help available 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

Holidays are particularly tough on folks where domestic violence is a part of their family life, experts say.

There's this sense of a "Hallmark Christmas," said Lisa A. Breen, executive director of the Mountain View-based Support Network for Battered Women, "where all are supposed to be having good family cheer and fun. When it's not happening, it's devastating and creates a sense of isolation, especially for children."

David Lee, director of education for the Support Network, said they don't necessarily see an increase of calls for help during the holidays because "people are trying to hold it together. They work at the image of looking good," he said.

They may not all call, "but there's simply more of it (domestic violence)," at this time of the year, said Los Altos Police Chief Lucy Carlton.

She pointed to "what the holidays bring," the parties and drinking, the gifts and money pressures.

Breen and Lee offer suggestions of ways battered women can help themselves and their children.

Use the new 800 number for calling the Support Network: 1-800-572-2782. "It gives women greater freedom to make a call - toll free," Breen said. "And no one will ever know they have called."

"Batterers do scrutinize phone bills," Breen said. Also, if a woman is "fleeing in the middle of the night, she may not have the change to make a call."

There's a national 800 number for help with domestic violence. When the folks at the Support Network discovered that the number two area code, nationally, from which calls came was 408, they decided they needed a local 800 number.

No one deserves to be abused, Lee said. "This is a time to think about your safety. Help is available."

Domestic violence is not just hitting. "It's put-downs, insults, isolation," Lee said. Particularly at the holiday time, sometimes a husband "doesn't want you to see your family. That's isolation."

Call 911. An officer responding to a domestic violence call can get an emergency protective order, on the spot, from judges who are on call during the night. Even on Christmas Eve.

"None of these services take a holiday," Lee said.