CONSULTANT TAKES ABUSE FIGHT TO CAPITAL.

Byline: Teresa Jimenez Daily News Staff Writer

Kathleen Chamberlin thinks about her commitment to battling domestic violence at 4 a.m. every Tuesday, when she wakes up and prepares to spend half the week in Sacramento without her husband.

Chamberlin worked as Ventura County's family support services coordinator until recently, when the state Department of Health Services offered her a job.

Eager to make a difference with at-risk families on a larger scale, Chamberlin, 51, accepted the post, found a small flat in an old Sacramento Victorian and made arrangements for her husband to take her to the Burbank Airport every Tuesday morning and pick her up Friday evening.

``You have to have a very special spouse to do this,'' Chamberlin said. ``We've been married a million years and do everything together, and then suddenly I'm splitting my time.''

John Chamberlin said he believes his wife's work matters profoundly to people in stopping and preventing suffering and even death from domestic violence.

``It's such an important thing. It's well worth any sacrifice,'' he said. ``It's not a job. It's more of a mission.''

He points out that other couples manage careers that keep them apart some of the week. Faces of couples in similar situations have become familiar at the airport, he said.

The Chamberlins have three adult children, 25, 29 and 30, all married. Though they are independent - one a teacher, one a social worker and one a recent graduate of Bible college - they live nearby and visit their parents in Newbury Park, Kathleen Chamberlin said.

``I think that they're very supportive, but they miss me. When I first got the job, I decided that I needed to stay the first few weeks to find an apartment and get settled,'' Chamberlin said. ``That was a mistake. When I stay away, I really miss them.''

Chamberlin said her new job has shown her another side of combating domestic violence: the legislative, big-picture side. When she worked for the county, Chamberlin directed a staff of people who counseled at-risk families.

Participants were selected for the program, called Healthy Families Ventura, by a test for stress and anger. The test identified parents at risk of abusing their children. It turned out that, before counseling, there had been a 25 percent rate of domestic violence in homes of those who scored high for stress and anger, compared with 15 percent in the general population, Chamberlin said.

In her new position for the Emergency Preparedness Injury Control Division of the Health Services Department, she guides county officials throughout the state in work similar to what she did in Ventura County.

``It's a whole different focus. It's like being on the other side of the fence,'' Chamberlin said. ``Before, I was someone a consultant would come to. Now, I'm the consultant.''

When Chamberlin started working with families, ``I was surprised at the huge numbers. I was so glad that we were helping these families,'' she said. In the new job, ``I decided this was where I wanted to be. I wanted to affect a broader number of people.''