Domestic, sexual violence topic of April 29 Liberty meeting

Posted: Thursday, March 22, 2012 1:46 pm | Updated: 1:50 pm, Thu Mar 22, 2012.

Dedicated to ending domestic and sexual violence, the Houston Area Womens Center reported that it received more than 40,000 24-hour hotline calls from women and men in crisis in 2011. Nearly 1,200 women and more than 1,000 children lived in the safety of the organizations shelter.

The sexual violence hotline is 713-528-RAPE (7273), and the lifeline for domestic violence victims is 713-528-2121.

Liberty rental property owner Brenda Wooldridge believes it may be time to consider a hotline devoted to Liberty County residents in crisis. Such a hotline certainly would not replace the others, but it would be a place to reach helpers who know the lay of the land. It's something we need to talk about, she said.

A localized hotline is an idea that Wooldridge would like to discuss as she hears experts speak on domestic and sexual violence during the monthly Community Awareness Meeting that First United Methodist Church in Liberty will host at 6 p.m., Sunday, April 29. The church is located at 539 Main St. Wooldridge makes the meeting arrangements there.

A fundamental premise of this discussion is that no community is immune from such violence.

It is a serious problem everywhere, Wooldridge said. Living in Liberty, from what I can see here, there is still a lot of that 1950s mentality, me Tarzan, you Jane. We just need a phone number that somebody can call and talk to someone locally, someone who lives here, who understands some of the problems that people are addressing here.

It is just like the difference between having a hotline in Houston and having the national hotline.

For instance, there is a protocol for getting people in crisis to the shelter. When someone needs to be picked up someplace other than home, localized crisis intervention may provide the safest options.

You need to get to a public location, and then we can send a taxi to pick you up and take you to the shelter, because there is also the safety of the people in that intermediate stage, Wooldridge explained in regard to when she volunteered in Houston. The taxi driver is at risk, and you dont want whoever it is following you to the shelter. So the person that is local knows a little bit more about where you can go to find this. They can give you directions to wherever the counseling may be. Here in Liberty, the resources are more limited than in Houston, and the victim will need help that is actually available in Liberty.

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Domestic, sexual violence topic of April 29 Liberty meeting