Phyllis A. DeMott has served as Executive Director of A Safe Place/Lake County Crisis Center, Lake County’s only shelter and comprehensive counseling program for victims of domestic violence, since 1994.  

She currently serves as President of the Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence, a coalition of 52-member association addressing issues and needs of domestic violence victims throughout the State.  DeMott had formerly served as Director of the Night Ministry’s Open Door Temporary Youth Emergency Shelter in Chicago for four years.

DeMott holds masters degrees in Social Service and in Law and Social Policy from Bryn Mawr College, a Master’s of Divinity from Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a B.A. in psychology from Eastern College, St. David’s, PA. She has designed and directed a shelter for troubled 14 to 21-year-olds in Chicago and an after-school program for kindergartners through sixth graders in Pennsylvania .

She has been a social worker, family therapist and book editor. Under DeMott’s direction, A Safe Place has grown into a comprehensive program annually serving approximately 3,000 victims of domestic violence from Lake , McHenry and northern Cook counties in Illinois.  An emphasis on holding the batterer accountable to the victim and to the community has led to an ever-expanding abuser treatment services program (IPDAV) to address violence at its roots.

Through her leadership, DeMott’s vision of more completely serving battered women and their children was realized when the County’s first transitional living program opened in March 2006. This 20-unit apartment building provides a fully supportive program of counseling, children’s programs, and life skills training designed to empower battered women as they build lives of self-sufficiency.