Answering the Call: C4DP’s 24/7 Hotline

In 1976, founding members of what was then Marin Abused Women’s Services gathered in Kay Tsenin’s living room. Frustrated by the violence and associated shame they witnessed in women around the county, they launched the first domestic violence hotline in Marin. Finally there was someone to listen to survivors and offer the help and support they desperately needed. Back then, domestic violence was considered a family matter, not a crime.

Running uninterrupted for more than 46 years, Center for Domestic Peace’s 24/7 English/Spanish hotline is the first point of access for anyone to connect with our services. In 2019, C4DP merged the separate English and Spanish hotlines into one, hiring full-time bilingual advocates to answer the 8,000 plus calls a year we receive.

Whether callers are in immediate danger or looking for referrals, our compassionate advocates are here to help with a survivor-led philosophy. Hotline advocates assist a survivor without judgement, no matter what stage in the relationship a caller is in. This includes wanting to stay, thinking about leaving, in the process of leaving, or having already left the relationship. The hotline offers lethality risk assessments, safety planning, referrals and appointments for legal services, screening for entry to the shelter or our Second Step transitional housing, and connections to therapy, support groups, and/or our rental assistance program.

Another frequent call to the hotline is from the law enforcement partners we have collaborated with in refining their response to domestic violence related calls for more than a decade. Minimizing their protocol to a single tool, the Pocket Card instructs officers in different jurisdictions to respond in a unified way and to make a rapid connection to our hotline at the scene. This way survivors receive immediate assistance and learn about their options for safety.

The significance of connecting to our hotline early can be seen in the numbers. In C4DP’s Impact Survey conducted with 98 survivors whom we assisted in a prior year, 94% reported not being physically hurt by an intimate partner in the last year.

We are ready to answer your call, 24/7 @ 415-924-6616