Long Beach shelters like Su Casa help domestic violence victims heal…

WHERE TO FIND HELP

Su Casa: Ending Domestic Violence 3840 Woodruff Avenue, Suite 203 Long Beach, CA 90808 562-402-4888

Interval House: 6615 East Pacific Coast Highway, suite 170 Long Beach, CA 90803 714-891-8121

Women Shelter of Long Beach: P.O. Box 32107 Long Beach, CA 90832 562-437-7233

Long Beach Rescue Mission: PO Box 1969 Long Beach, CA 90801 562-591-1292

LONG BEACH >> The woman nervously looked around the Starbucks on Redondo Boulevard in Long Beach.

“I always worry I might see his sister or cousins here in Long Beach,” she said of her former boyfriend and father of her oldest child. “Most of his family understands, but there are still those who blame me.”

Clarissa, who didn’t want her last name used, is a domestic violence survivor. She fled to the San Gabriel Valley six years ago but regularly returns to Long Beach because her family lives here.

After enduring years of verbal and physical abuse — and pleas from her family to get out — she said leaving the situation “wasn’t that easy.”

Although in recent years the issue of domestic violence has been brought out of the shadows, many say it is still a major issue plaguing the country, and in Long Beach.

In 2011, Los Angeles County 911 operators received 39,817 calls for domestic violence, and nearly two-thirds involved severe physical force or the use of a weapon, said Vicki Doolittle, executive director of Su Casa: Ending Domestic Violence. Read Article here