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Domestic Violence Resources Directory
If you’re struggling to cope in an abusive relationship, you’re not alone. Experts estimate that over 10 million Americans are affected by domestic violence every year. Whether it’s physical or verbal abuse, it’s not OK, and you can take action to stop it. These vetted helplines are here for you.
Asian & Pacific Islander Institute on Domestic Violence
Domestic Violence Resource
How We Help:The API Institute works to eliminate domestic violence in Asian and Pacific Islander communities by analyzing and addressing critical issues; providing consultation, technical assistance and training; conducting research; and engaging in policy advocacy.
History:
Since the early 1980s, Asian and Pacific Islander activists in the battered women’s movement have struggled to address the ...problem of domestic violence in their ethnic communities, and services and advocacy to support Asian and Pacific Islander battered women began to emerge. In 1981, the first shelter program for API women and children started in Los Angeles, followed by similar efforts in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, San Jose, New Jersey, Boston and Seattle. Soon, community interest increased and activists and agencies began to organize. October 2000 marks the formal establishment of the Asian & Pacific Islander Institute on Domestic Violence (API Institute), initially as a part of the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum. Its mission is to build gender equality and prevent domestic violence in Asian and Pacific Islander communities. Its vision of gender democracy drives its goals to strengthen culturally-relevant advocacy, promote prevention and community engagement, and influence public policy and systems change. Read More »
For Women, For Children/Teens, For Elders, Legal Help
Location
San Francisco, CA
Jewish Family Services of Greater Orlando
Domestic Violence Resource
How We Help:The mission of JFS Orlando is to provide vital, high-quality and innovative services to people in need, of all faiths, so that they can overcome challenges and lead fuller more structured lives.
History:
Jewish Family Services of Greater Orlando (JFS Orlando) is a human services organization founded on the principles of communi ...ty building, kindness, compassion and concern for the betterment of our world. Since 1978, JFS Orlando has provided social and emergency assistance services to those in need in the Central Florida community.Read More »
For Men, For Women, For Children/Teens, For Elders
Location
Orlando, FL
Connect
1 In 6 Support For Men
Domestic Violence Resource
How We Help:The mission of 1in6 is to help men who have had unwanted or abusive sexual experiences in childhood live healthier, happier lives. Our mission also includes serving family members, friends, and partners by providing information and support resources on the web and in the community.
History:
Researchers estimate that 1 in 6 men have experienced unwanted or abusive sexual experiences before age 18. This is likely a ...low estimate, since it doesn’t include noncontact experiences, which can also have lasting negative effects.
If you’ve had such an experience, or think you might have, you are not alone.
If you wonder whether such an experience may be connected to some difficulties or challenges in your life now, you are not alone.
If you are a man educating himself, this is a place for you to learn more, reflect on your situation, find answers to your questions, and explore your options – all at your own pace, and in complete privacy.
This site is for everyone, from guys who are mostly happy and successful in their lives to those who are barely getting by and feeling at the end of their rope. These pages are filled with the courage, hope, and strength of other guys like you, who have taken stock of their lives and are choosing their own paths forward to healing.
1in6.org has regularly updated information and resources for many other visitors too, not only Family, Friends & Partners but also therapists and other helping professional, journalists, educators, and attorneys, judges and law enforcement officers.Read More »
How We Help:A CALL TO MEN is a leading national violence prevention organization providing training and education for men, boys and communities. Our aim is to shift social norms that negatively impact our culture and promote a more healthy and respectful definition of manhood.
History:
Ten years ago co-founders Tony Porter and Ted Bunch sent an open invitation to a modest network of people working in the fiel ...d of domestic violence and sexual assault asking them to attend a presentation entitled “A Call to Men – Becoming Part of the Solution”. Tony and Ted wanted to talk to men. They wanted to raise awareness of the importance of bystander intervention and of what “well meaning” men who do not batter or sexually assault women have in common with those who do. They recognized that in our society all men (on some level) are socialized to devalue women, treat women as objects and as the “property” of men. While offending individuals certainly need to be held accountable for abusive and violent behavior, what they identified was that violence and discrimination against women and girls is a larger social ill requiring a social response. A reponse that needed to come from men!
It was amazing how quickly enthusiasm and support for the "A CALL TO MEN" approach to solving this problem flourished into a network of men committed to ending all forms of violence and discrimination against women and girls. Our organization continues to expand and grow nationally and internationally, redefining and reshaping ideas about manhood. We are committed to creating a world were all men and boys are loving and respectful and all women and girls are valued and safe.Read More »
How We Help:AVfM regards gender ideologues and all other agents of misandry as a social malignancy. We do not consider them well-intentioned or honest agents for their purported goals and extend to them no more courtesy or consideration than we would klansmen, skinheads, neo Nazis, or other purveyors of hate. We will educate them where they are willing to learn, but hold them accountable for their ignorance as much as their actions; We support and endorse only non-violent reactions to feminist governance and in fact are trying to prevent future acts of violence that feminist governance has already inspired.
History:
The past 50 years have been a time of remarkable change in the world of western women. With the help of technology and forwar ...d thinking, our society has thrown off sex-based expectations and limitations for women, allowing them important, long-deserved access to the path of self-actualization.
We now live in a world where a woman’s role in life is one of choice, not a destiny shaped by tradition, determined by biology, or forged in law. This, we think, is as it should be.
This revolution in freedom and identity, however, will not be complete until the same standards find their way into the lives of the average man. The absence of that complementary change in the lives of men has created an imbalance that erodes the autonomy of both sexes. Unless this changes, that imbalance will worsen.
Freedom from sex-based expectations for just one sex will never result in freedom for either sex. It is simply a foundation of exploitation on which tyranny is built and administered.
As a society, we are already on that path. The noble idea of freedom and equity between the sexes has been corrupted. It has become a malignancy on our social consciousness. What used to be cooperation between sexes is now gynocentric parasitism that inhabits every level of men’s existence, from cradle to coffin. The efforts to enhance the rights of women have become toxic efforts to undermine the rights of men.
It is time for equity-minded men and women to engage in the final push for freedom for both sexes, and indeed for all human beings. It is time for the interests of humanity to take precedence over the interests of men and women as political factions and social adversaries.
It is time for a movement that truly favors humanity, not a particular sex. It is time for feminism to fulfill its promise of equality, and to quit making a mockery of it.Read More »
How We Help:Help for battered men, men's stories and more ...
History:
What if you’ve been battered? Don’t brush it off or ignore it. Talk about it. Tell someone. Realize tha ...t you’re not the only one—a lot of other men are in the same boat! Check out the resources listed below.
Check out Washington’s Domestic Violence Hotline Web page. Ignore the articles about “Information for an Abused Woman” and “Emotional Reactions of Abused Women”—they’ll just make you mad. Their other information, “Am I a Victim” and “Your Personal Safety Plan” works for men as well as women.
Read the "warning signs" on Washington State's Domestic Violence page. (Ignore the sexist references like "his" using espionage tactics on "her" -- it cuts both ways. Ignore, too the comments about "exerting power and control through custody issues" as only involving kidnapping kids or holding them hostage -- false allegations of child abuse and domestic violence are frequent strategies of woman batterers.) Read Erin Pizzey's article Working With Violent Women about "family tyrants." Does the term "family tyrant" resonate with you? Then you need to read this article!
Read our selection of men's personal stories about it. You aren't the only one! Hearing other men's stories, and what they did about it, and what they wished they'd done about it, will help you figure out what to do. Read More »
How We Help:The MaleSurvivor Weekends of Recovery program has changed the lives of over 900 survivors and their loved ones. Started in 2001, the weekends are unique opportunities for any adult survivor who is seeking further support in his recovery to get more help. During the weekends participants and the facilitator team co-create a safe community for healing where everyone’s story is heard. Starting in 2007, the program was expanded to include weekends for couples who want to work on healing their relationships
History:
In October of 1988 the first professional Conference on Male Sexual Victimization was held in Minneapolis. This ground-break ...ing conference, organized by a few dedicated mental health providers, brought together professionals who wanted to better understand and treat adult male survivors of childhood sexual abuse. At that time, only limited information could be offered to those who participated. But those present had great enthusiasm and the clear recognition that the conference was a necessary and valuable resource, where professionals could share practical information and ask questions. And it was a safe place for some to acknowledge their own sexual victimization.
The energy generated by the first conference helped fuel the production of the second conference a year later in Atlanta. This conference was a great success in many ways. It brought together over 400 professionals—many pioneer writers, researchers and practitioners in the area of male sexual victimization. A conversation was initiated too, about who we were as a dedicated group, and what we wanted to accomplish. We knew that we wanted to build on the conference theme and continue holding meetings after each conference in order to evaluate our efforts and envision our future.
In the wake of that first conference, there was a great deal of discussion about the growing movement among mental health professionals to address the therapeutic needs of adult male survivors of sexual abuse. In November of 1994 a core group of individuals, who had either attended or organized, many of the previous conferences, decided to incorporate as a non-profit organization. These same individuals spearheaded the initial organizing efforts, formed an interim board designated to write bylaws, and became the first Board of Directors of The National Organization on Male Sexual Victimization.
At the 1995 conference in Columbus, Ohio, the bylaws were voted on, as was a slate of candidates for the remaining board vacancies. Those who voted gave overwhelming approval for the organization to incorporate and this occurred in November of 1995, in the state of Minnesota. Since then NOMSV (now MaleSurvivor) has been moving forward on several fronts, from organizing National Conferences to creating this World Wide Web site. Read More »
How We Help:MenCanStopRape.org's Mission is To mobilize men to use their strength for creating cultures free from violence, especially men's violence against women.
History:
Men Can Stop Rape seeks to mobilize men to use their strength for creating cultures free from violence, especially men’s vi ...olence against women. In 1997, the founders of Men Can Stop Rape pioneered a different way of addressing the epidemic of violence against women. Though the majority of violent acts against women are committed by men, the vast majority of prevention efforts are risk-reduction and self-defense tactics directed at women. The founders wanted to shift the responsibility of deterring harm away from women by promoting healthy, nonviolent masculinity. Their vision offered a plan for prevention that outlines positive, proactive solutions to engaging men as allies, inspiring them to feel motivated and capable to end men’s violence against women.
More than a decade later, Men Can Stop Rape continues to mentor male youth and successfully mobilize them to prevent men’s violence against women and other men; inspire young men to create their own positive definitions of masculinity, manhood, and strength; develop healthy relationships with others; embrace the concept of personal responsibility; work in partnership with female peers; and do their part to end violence and build safe communities. Men Can Stop Rape has grown tremendously in capacity and scope – inspiring a new generation of leaders for change across the country. The young men come to understand the complex ways that stereotypical notions of race, gender, and sexual orientation can restrict definitions of masculinity, and how creating broader, more equitable definitions benefit both themselves and other women and girls.Read More »
How We Help:The mission of Saving Our Boys is to encourage, challenge and equip men to make a difference by becoming a godly influence in the lives of their sons and the many fatherless boys in our churches and neighborhoods, helping them to become men of character and integrity.
History:
Someone once told Sam Mehaffie, “Find what breaks your heart, then break your back changing it” — and he’s been doi ...ng that ever since. He’s coached High School Varsity boys’ basketball for years and is a former youth pastor, Jr./Sr. High Sunday School teacher, deacon and Teen Challenge board member. However, his greatest passion is mentoring at-risk boys, helping them to see their value in God’s kingdom. His wife calls him a “kid magnet” because hurting boys seem drawn to him no matter where he is.
Sam’s professional background is in the Christian music industry. He was Vice President of Sales for The Benson Co. in Nashville, TN., where he worked with The Gaithers, Imperials, Speer Family, Oak Ridge Boys and many others. He then started his own marketing company in Kansas City and was the exclusive national sales representative for Lillenas Publishing Company.
Sam is the author of Every Man’s a Mentor: Reaching Our Boys, and has written numerous articles about mentoring. Coming from a divorced family, he speaks from experience about the pain and hurt caused by absentee fathers. However, because Christian men chose to become part of his life when he was teenager, Sam’s life was changed forever. He is the man he is today because those men invested their time and love in his life when he needed it most.
Sam believes that it takes today’s men of God to build tomorrow’s men of God.” Godly men multipling Godly men.” Boys can’t learn without examples to follow.
Titus 2:6 says, “…guide the young men to live disciplined lives, but mostly show them all this by doing it yourself.” (MSG)
Sam and his wife, Darlene, live in Blue Springs, MO. They have been blessed with two children and five grandchildren, and have fostered four teen boys, one of whom has taken their name. Read More »
How We Help:Founded in 1979, CUAV works to build the power of LGBTQQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning) communities to transform violence and oppression.
History:
CUAV was founded in 1979 following the assassinations of Harvey Milk and George Moscone, as well as police attacks on LGBTQ p ...eople, as an organized effort to promote community safety in San Francisco’s Castro District. As the country’s oldest LGBTQ anti-violence organization, our past programs included a safety whistle campaign and a gay and lesbian speakers bureau for public schools, and later expanded to include a 24-hour crisis line and peer advocates to support both survivors of hate violence as well as intimate partner violence. After the adoption of an anti-oppression framework in the late 1990’s, CUAV launched TransAction with the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights to organize against anti-transgender police violence, as well as the Love & Justice Program to create opportunities for LGBTQ youth of color to develop healthy relationship skills through the arts.
In 2007, CUAV engaged in an intensive 2-year strategic planning process and launched a new programmatic approach in 2009, in many ways returning to our movement’s vibrant history of grassroots community empowerment. At this powerful juncture in our history we transitioned to a shared leadership staff structure and integrated our long-standing support services with opportunities for LGBTQ survivors to develop their leadership and organize to address the root causes of violence.Read More »
