Domestic Abuse Helpline for Men

[Brent]

A message from the Domestic Abuse Helpline for Men.

Greetings Friends and Supporters!

The Domestic Abuse Helpline for Men (DAHM) needs your help! Our call volume to the toll free 24/7 helpline has quadrupled in the over three years we have been in existence. Additionally, Verizon is working over the next year to include our toll free 24 hour number on the crisis line page of every phone book they make in the country!

For over three years we have worked out of a small home office responding to callers 24/7, developing trainings, mailing requested materials, and setting up annual educational conferences on male victimization etc. Now is the time to start expanding our services and capabilities!

There is a building for sale nearby that has just the space we need to accommodate offices for our volunteer staff and a larger room to hold trainings, support groups and other meetings. There is also an efficiency apartment on the second floor. The building needs some updating and remodeling and friends of DAHM are willing to donate time and services to make this happen.

When we began our mission in October 2000 to give voice to male victims/targets of domestic abuse we had no idea what the need was. The first two years it was quite a struggle to keep the helpline running 24/7 with just two volunteers covering the line and funding limited to a few small private donations. Today we are still pretty much self supporting but we have an all volunteer staff made up of an Executive Director, a Volunteer Coordinator and seven trained volunteers who man the helpline as well as donated services from the American Message Center of Ohio, a 24/7 answering service.

We have had over 3,000 calls to the helpline since that time and have discovered that there is an undeniable need for support, referrals, shelter and advocacy work for male victims/targets and their children. Please help us to expand DAHM so that we can continue to do this much needed work!

The approximately 20 x 40 log building (on a slab) we have in mind is sitting on 3.75 acres of land here in Harmony, Maine. The price has recently been reduced to $24,900 and we hear that the owner is willing to pay some of the closing costs. We are looking for a contributor or contributors to buy the building and donate it to DAHM. If one person donated 24,900 or 25 people donated 1,000 each or 250 people donated 100.00 each DAHM could have a office and expand their services for male victims of domestic abuse. Please consider making a tax deductible donation to help us make this dream happen!

To find out more about us visit our website: //www.noexcuse4abuse.org or contact the Executive Director, Jan Brown at: 207-683-5758 THANKS!!

[Peanutsdad]

Wish I had known they exist a year and a half ago. At that time, I thought I had no where to turn.

Besides, the police acted like I was a wimp, but in the next breath, informed me if she had one mark on her, I was going to jail.

[StPaulieGirl]

Did you read some of the stories on that site?  Check out "Bill and Patience".  That has to be one of the worst stories I have ever read, and I've done a lot of reading over the years.

There is no gender difference when it comes to abusers.  Well, maybe that women are more apt to poison their victims then men, but abuse is abuse.

[StPaulieGirl]

I think these days, whenever LE comes out to investigate a domestic violence call, they have to take at least one person into custody.   They don't seem to "get" that women are just as violent as men.  God help you if you defend yourself.  

Btw, my son and his stepbrothers were swapping war stories about their parents first marriages.  Apparently, my ex's new wife picked up their father and threw him into the porch.  At first I laughed; maybe Mr. Wonderful would finally know Karma, then after some of her later stunts, I got kind of scared.  She's big, and she could take me out.

I hope this info for the hotline is passed around, so that men can see that there is help for them.  No one should be afraid of being in their own home.