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SF Crisis Lines See Spike in Calls During Pandemic

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Domestic violence and suicide hotlines saw a spike in outreach during the first few weeks of shelter-in-place orders, according to new findings from the Felton Institute San Francisco Suicide Prevention and the Domestic Violence Consortium — a collective of 17 domestic violence agencies in the city.

And while the overall volume of calls has dropped, Felton Institute interim Executive Director Lina Sheth told the city’s Board of Supervisors on Thursday that the number of calls reporting suicide attempts has risen sharply — from one to two a month to one to three a week under the shelter-in-place order.

Calls to some domestic abuse hotlines also spiked by as much as 130% in the first few weeks of the order.

“So the first two weeks, it looks like people panicked. They did not feel safe,” said Beverly Upton, executive director of the Domestic Violence Consortium. “They weren’t used to being locked down with people that have abused them in the past, or that they were afraid of.”

Upton said calls to those hotlines have dropped steadily over the past two months, as abuse survivors became aware that the services were reliable under the shelter-in-place orders.

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— Marco Siler-Gonzales (@mijo_marco)

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