I have been assisting a survivor, who had recently gotten out of abuse, so I advised her to call the National Domestic Violence Hotline and ask to speak to a counselor. She was in one state, while I was in another. After a while, she contacted me back to ask if it was normal to wait on the line for over an hour to speak to a DV counselor. Um, NO!?! WTH???
To get her immediate assistance in her state, I looked up her state DV hotline numbers and she got through in less than 5 minutes and they had her a local DV advocate appointment setup and were discussing her immediate needs. She was safe, thankfully, so she messaged me back, thanking me profusely.
This makes my mind buzz and whir…at first, I got mad at the National Hotline, but then I began to think: wait, perhaps DV is an even more pandemic than we realized and they do not have enough operators and resources to help? This is something we MUST fix! DV victims are only calling the National Hotline and not trying their state ones, because the Hotline’s number is advertised EVERYWHERE.
This is a call to action, folks. If you can, donate to the National Domestic Violence Hotline or do one of those Facebook fundraisers for your birthday (or any time, really). This is an URGENT need! Someone could’ve died waiting to speak to someone on the phone to help them…we have to help right away!
Love and light!
