How to Offer Help

Offer Understanding and Support

• Tell her what you see
• Assure her that it is NOT her fault and that she has the right to live free of violence
• Understand she may not want to talk about it or that she may not even recognize she is being abused. Your patience and understanding will help her come to term with the reality
• Assure her that she can talk to you at any time.
• If she has children, let her know you are concerned with their safety and emotional well-being.

Encourage her to Seek Help

• Once she recognizes the severity of the abuse or that she is being abused, tell her and support her through finding services that could help her
• Offer her practical support if she needs them, like babysitting while she is seeing a professional, or driving her to her appointments, or allow her to store some things at your house as part of her safety planning
• Help her create a safety plan and identifying places she and her children can escape to should they need to leave quickly.
• Encourage her not to confront her abusive partner if she is planning on leaving her abusive partner

Know Your Own Limits

• Don’t put yourself at risk or in harm’s way
• Keep yourself safe
• Be comfortable with the possibility of calling the police for additional support

Call 911

• If there is an immediate threat of violence

Report Child Abuse

• If you have a reason to believe that a child is being abused, you are required by law to report it. Call the police or Children’s Aid Society.