Domestic Violence: What is the Cost and What are Your Options?

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The health effects of domestic violence are devastating. Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women in the15-44 age range. In the United States, approximately two million injuries are sustained by women and 580,000 injuries are sustained by men due to domestic violence each year. Additionally, people experiencing domestic violence are more likely to have a wide range of physical and mental health problems. The rate of depression in victims of domestic violence is twice as high as the rate of depression of non-victims.

 

The healthcare costs of intimate partner violence are substantial. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that the direct physical and mental health care costs of domestic violence in the U.S. exceed $4 billion per year. Victims of domestic violence have twice the health care visits and utilization than people who do not experience domestic violence.

 

Domestic violence affects families’ at all socio-economic levels, all education levels, all religions, and all ethnicities. Its impact on individual families is enormous and devastating but the impact on the community as a whole is equally devastating. It is a serious, widespread health and safety issue and must be treated as such.

Services and Programs

 

As a full-service domestic abuse agency, DVC of Santa Clarita Valley provides a crisis hotline, a 30-day crisis shelter for victims and their children, outreach counseling programs, legal advocacy, children’s programs, and volunteer training. Our primary goal is to offer shelter, intervention, and prevention to victims and their children. All services are provided at no cost to our clients.

 

The crisis hotline is staffed with trained volunteers and staff. Training includes a 40-hour state mandated certification program. The hotline is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and receives over 12,000 calls per year. It is often the first contact a victim has with the agency and is an important one. It may facilitate getting a victim out of a circumstance of abuse and into a safer situation. The hotline’s staff also offers resources and referrals to other agencies, medical support, and housing assistance.

 

The 30-day crisis shelter is comprised of three units with a total of nine beds and is able to accommodate women, and their children, at a confidential site. Counseling is an integral part of all the DVC’s programs and services, and the crisis shelter.

 

Outreach Center The Outreach Center serves men, women, teens, and children who are victims of domestic violence by offering group and individual counseling, parenting classes, legal advocacy, TRO preparation, and court accompaniment. This program also provides numerous community education presentations each year to schools, community organizations, religious groups, social service agencies, and professional associations to raise awareness about family violence, child abuse, teen dating abuse prevention, and available resources.

 

Emergency Shelter Since 1983, our Emergency Shelter Program has consistently offered food, shelter, and support Domestic Violence Center of Santa Clarita services to individuals and families who are victims of domestic violence and child abuse. The program provides individual and group counseling, transportation, emergency food, and clothing assistance in addition to case management, legal advocacy, CalWORKs assistance, temporary restraining order (TRO) preparation and submission, court accompaniment, parenting education, and transitional services.

 

The DVC is located at 26803 Newhall Ave in Newhall, CA. Phone number for information is 661-259-8175 and the 24hour crisis hotline number is 661-259-4357(HELP).

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