or snappy slogans that don't go anywhere. we have to make some tough decisions. we have to live within our means. we have got to take the power from the state capitol and move it down to the local level, closer to the people. and no new taxes, without voter approval. we have got to pull together not as republicans or as democrats but as californians first. at this stage in my life, i'm prepared to do exactly that. welcome to beyond the headlines, i'm cheryl jennings, every week we focus on a different topic. october is domestic violence awareness month and today we're going to talk about this very serious topic.

we'll go inside a women's some shelter and hear about legal support options and hear about a program that hopes to end domestic violence. but first, we'll hear from a domestic violence survivor. here she some in her own words. >> a lot of people that in comedic personalities. >> people would not know that i found my way in comedy as a result of tragedies like this. her boyfriend was very abusive and he shot my mother with sawed off double barrel shotgun. shot her like a dog in the street. after my mother was shot, i was left in the house with this man.

my mother that incident but seven years later my older brother was murdered. a lot people just don't know. they don't know your story and your journey unless you tell somebody. now that we're here, we do now. trust your instinct and the people will show you who they are the first time. >> joining us now is the affects of domestic violence, thank you for being here. >> thank you for having me. >> tell us more about it? >> it's been around for 30 years. we are honored to run a 24-hour a day domestic violence hot line. we have other services.

they have a latina program and support group. >> it's open to everybody in the bay area? >> yes. >> and you heard nici's story and domestic violence, can you describe more about it? >> there is a lot of domestic violence. unfortunately, i think our society kind of defines it as, physical abuse and that is pretty much where it ends, but that is not the case. there is a not of emotional abuse and mental cruelty. really what it is an intentional cycle that an abusive partner will put the other person through. >> it's about power and control? >> trying to maintain power and control over another person. >> and she does comedy through

her pain but not everybody has that strength. so how does somebody break out of the cycle? >> that can be something else really the core of that is getting that support, whether it be talking to like women or family and friends. we are focusing on helping that woman out and figure out what should her actions be. >> right a lot of women, it's difficult in some circumstances. it would be irresponsible to a hot line to say -- you so we do

a lot of counseling and we find out what they want to do and they get a lot of people telling them what to do but we don't do that. >> what about kids? i know that it has long term effect on kids. >> with children, we work with the children in the program we have. we offer them a safe place to talk about what is going on if they want to. there is a lot of pockets the children. >> if somebody was watching now that is affected by this what would you say to them? >> i would say, know you are strong and know you are survivor and give us a call. we are there for you 24/7 and we will listen to you and try your

best to help you. it's not your fault. you can make change if you are ready. >> i think that is very important message for women to take away from this. thank you for your time. >> my pleasure. >> all right. we do have to take a break, however, we're going to take a look inside a women's shelter in the east bay. did you know go-gurt is specially made to freeze and thaw by lunch time? so kids can have their favorite yogurt in their lunch box go-gurt. freeze it. thaw it. eat it up. ¿qué si usamos tacos más grandes? [ male announcer ] old el paso super stuffers. 33% larger shells. feed your fiesta.

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welcome back. today we're talking about domestic violence. i recently visited a shelter in contra costa county where every bed is almost fall and the crisis line is always busy. >> the environment for you and your children you can come to this location. >> these are the people that take calls on the crisis line as the only shelter for domestic

violence victims. it's known as stand. >> if he is just want wants to take and punch in call back at any time. if she wants to get in the shelter. we'll help her do that. if she is interested in getting a restraining order or go through the court system or deal with issues that she may be having with her children. >> and there is an economic crisis and has a affect on domestic violence. the calls have skyrocketed. in one year alone, 15,000 calls came in. >> have you called us before? >> we merged with family stress center which is child abuse agency in contra costa county. we now stand for family free of violence. the merger is critical because so many families, domestic violence and child abuse

co-occur. >> there is 24 apartments in a secret location. that is when women and children can find safety on an emergency basis. >> they provide licensed child care who have been abused or witnessed abuse. >> once they come for the first time, children feel is a safe and they can be children and play without the responsibility or the fear that i'm not safe and something might happen me. >> contra costa county has been stunned by high profile cases. in august 2009. dugard case was broken. she was reported kidnapped and 18 years later, she discovered being held in a secret compounded in antioch. police say she had been raped repeatedly. in september 2008, a woman was shot to death by an armed man

looking for his ex-wife. torres had become a volunteer for stand. the police sergeant that responded to that incident was also shot to death. a husband and father of three. the gunman also died in the shootout. she is women took their kids they call it unhealthy relationships. >> so i ran. i left the house. he said he would never do it again but it was a lie. >> it was financial. >> the women can move into secure transitional housing complete with kitchen facilities and food while they go through counseling and get their lives back together. >> i'm in the transitional living and i'm a student at contra costa college and plan to

transferring to u.c. davis next. >> it's going to change for the better. without this agency i don't know where we would be. >> it makes a great dinners in their lives. they say research shows that woman affected by domestic violence has to go to 42 different locations to get their needs met. stand is trying to work with that. they are working with the police department and survivors and the county to start a family justice center in richmond. they are asking the district attorney to sign on this so there is one place to get legal services and housing. we'll keep you posted. with us in the studio, is miss s florez, she is from the asian women's shelter. thank you so much for being here. i'm so intrigued, i haven't had a chance to talk about this issue for a while. for folks unfamiliar, tell us

who you serve? >> asian women, we serve all survivors and transgender survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking. we do serve survivors. >> and do you notice women of color have difficulty coming forward because of the language barrier? >> language is one of them and we offer 31 languages and also cultural bias, as well. so that is another thing we're working on is shifting attitudes that contribute to domestic violence. >> how do you do that? >> we do it through a program and we have what we call a community booking program.

we do out reach and education and grassroots mobile instigationization in the community. >> but it's a big job. >> and is the economy affecting it? >> ever since 2006, to 2009 our costs increased by over 40%. so yes. we have an increase every year. >> how do we or how does someone reach your shelter? >> we have a crisis line. we have outreach in different communities. different ethnic neighborhoods. temples and churches they find out about us and survivors know that we are here and we care and we hope. it is a confidential locations. >> and what do they need to

bring. sometimes women in crisis have to make a run for it? >> sometimes they bring everything they own and sometimes it's just the clothes on their back. >> how about children? >> single women and families and we have a program where we have advocates that work directly with children. >> how many beds little we have 15-bed capacity. >> so people feel comfortable and every program is different. what kind of accommodations? >> there is cooking and cleaning for themselves and it's about empowerment and positive environment. >> what about the ultimate goal of your program? >> ultimate goal to eliminate domestic violence in our communities.

we are here for you. >> that is fantastic. we'll put all this information on our website. thanks for the information. all right. we'll take another quick break and when we come back, we'll learn about legal support for victims of family violence. please stay with us. [ female announcer ] this is a strawberry pop tart.

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headlines, joining us now is a director of legal and intervention services at the family violence law center. thanks for being here? >> thank you for inviting me. >> tell me what the violence law center does for people? >> we have a continuum of multi-disciplinary services, prevention programs for youth and middle schools and high schools. one is start strong program and 24-hour crisis line, advocacy services, legal services and we have some psycho therapy. >> that is pretty comprehensive? >> a lot of services. been around for a while? >> since 1978. >> and in terms of legal services, i think women in crisis don't know about -- there are so many things that the legal system can offer.

tell us the basics? >> there are two basics. one is the criminal system where you call the police, you make a report. the district attorney's office decides whether to pursue that criminal complaint. there are a lot of people that aren't ready calling the police or aren't comfortable calling the police. you can file for a restraining order. that you going into the court and requesting protection from the court. >> is that hard to do? >> there is fair number of papers to fill out but there is a lot of help out there. most courthouses will help you fill out the papers and agencies also have services. we have a legal office and provide legal representation in court. >> is this a free service? >> yes. >> that is fantastic. so if a woman has to run, she won't have any financial

ability. >> one of the great things about civil restraining orders you can also get custody orders, visitation orders, child support and get help, if you are married with property control so that abuser can't run off with all your property. there is a court order prohibiting them in doing that. you can keep your families safe, as well. >> how about the partnership? >> we work in many ways over the years do you remember the welfare reform in the mid 90s. we were one of the agencies with helping to make sure that domestic violence survivors were taken into account when filing because they can't follow all the strict time lines. we're part of a collaborative that that employs services for survivors and extra financial help, especially.

maybe they don't have anything with them, belongings, they working with us to provide extra help. >> and then what about what rights do people have in legal situation. >> one of the most important things victims can do with the civil restraining order, they can help get themselves some protection, it helps stop the clock for a while. if you can get the restraining order for a bunch of different places and temporarily stop is what going on before you look for a longer term services. >> i would say, our agency, the other agencies that have been on this program were all out there to help. there is a wonderful national

domestic violence hot line. if you are not ready to do that, friends and family and there is a lot of good information out there. >> thank you so much. we're going to put all those numbers on our website. all right. we have to take another break. when we come back we're going to hear about a unique policeman that looks to end the violence before it begins. stay with us -- you are watching beyond the headlines. ♪ i know. i know i need to quit this. - well, how about... - that smokers' helpline? yeah, they can give me a plan. - help me through the rough spots. - so you're ready to... quit? everyone wants me to quit-- my doctor, my wife, the dog. - not good for the dog. - anyone else? hmm? what? anyone else want you to quit?

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welcome back. today we've been talking about domestic and family violence. right now we are joined in the studio by brian o'conner from the family violence prevention. brian, i love this idea because we've been talking about women as victims and survivors and i know there has been men abused but it starts when people are young, right? >> it does.

particularly with this issue, historically a women's issue. so its metaphor that highlights the way that men can really get involved in talking to young boys about healthy relationships and the importance of non-violence and respect. >> i know this program is about ten years old but not just here in san francisco. >> no, it's not. it started a decade ago and it is a metaphor. it works with athletic coaches. we use high school coaches where there is a solid infrastructure of organized teams all across the country. we're in 50 states as well as roughly 21 countries through a partnership with unisef. >> how did it get started? >> it started in sioux city, iowa and the idea was being around to harness the role that

men's influence in young lives. >> hand a how do you get to them? >> the important piece when we asked ourselves who the young people admire, coaches really came to the fore. we thought that copying was going to be a program we could have men talking to other men but they came back to us, i won't do that. but i would talk to young people the importance of respect and importance of non-violence and the importance i can also show to my own relationships, be an example and role model to young people. >> i think we can start really young, focus on high school age boys but we can go really young. there are age appropriate ways to talk to young people about

healthy relationships. >> you talk about healthy relationships but the thing these days is bullying can turn into violence. how do you get that about? >> it's really about preventing violence and being a role model to young people and heading them build healthy relationships. whether on the playground or to the time they start dating. >> healthy relationship, how do you define that? >> that is a good question. i think all of us have relationships, family relationships, relationships with work, wherever your community are. healthy relationship, particularly with young people we keep the lines of communication open as you saw in the previous segment, trusting your instincts and empowering young people to make healthy choices. so if they feel there is a problem and they get in trouble.

you are there for them, as well. you are there to listen and not necessarily judge. >> i think that is really tough to do because everybody wants to be judgmental. we all have opinions? >> especially when you are talking about your own children. allow mentor or teacher or coach, we all have a role to play. >> how can we get involved with your program? >> you can go to end i abuse.org and the information is there. >> awesome. >> thank you. with that. we're out of time. there is so much more but we'll do it at another time. i want to say a special thanks to our guests. that is it for this edition of beyond the headlines. information about today's show is on our website at www.abc7.com. just click on the community page. if you are looking for community

resources in your neighborhood. dial 211 for help. i'm cheryl jennings, have a great week. bye for now. it's great. i eat anything that i want. key lime pie, pineapple upside down cake, raspberry cheesecake... ...yeah, every night its something different. oh yeah yeah...she always keeps them in the house. no no no, i've actually lost weight... i just hava high metabolism or something... ...lucky. [ wife ] babe... ♪ umm, i gotta go. [ female announcer ] over 30 delicious flavors at around 100 calories each. yoplait, it is so good. indulge in yoplait light's two new flavors. triple berry torte and black forest cake.