Safety Planning
Every stage of your involvement with an abuser will require different stategies to ensure your safety.
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Getting ready to leave your abuser
- Keep any evidence you can of physical abuse. Make sure to keep this evidence in a safe place that your abuser will not find. This might include:
- Any pictures you have of bruises or other injuries. If you're taking pictures of your injuries, try to have these pictures dated.
- Any torn clothing.
- Any household objects that your abuser tore or broke.
- Any pictures that show your home is destroyed or messed up after violence happened.
- Any records that you have from doctors or the police that document the abuse.
- Keeping a journal about the abuse. Write down how he abused you, any way that he threatened you, and when these things happened.
- Anything else you think could help show that you've been abused.
- Know where you can go to get help. In Carbon County, call our helpline at 425-2222. The National Domestic Violence Hotline can connect you directly with someone in your area who can help you -- 1-800-799-SAFE (7233).
- Tell someone you trust what is happening to you.
- If you are hurt, go to a doctor or an emergency room. Tell them what happened. Ask them to make a record of your visit and what happened. Get a copy.
- Plan with your children. Figure out a safe place for them to go. This might be a room with a lock or a friend's house where they can go for help. Make sure they know that their job is to stay safe, not to protect you.
- Contact your local domestic violence organization or women's shelter. They can tell you about laws and other resources available to you before you have to use them during a crisis.
- Try to set money aside. You can ask friends or family members to hold money for you so that your abuser cannot use it.
- Try to acquire job skills by taking classes at a community college or a vocational school. This will help you get a job so you won't need to be dependent financially on your abuser.
from the National Center for Victims of Crime
