Safety Plan

If you are afraid for your life, please call our anonymous and confidential hotline.  You can ask questions, plan ways to stay safe or get to a shelter. The confidential hotline number is: 099 88 78 08

If you want to leave the relationship:

• Call the hotline (099 88 78 08), and we can help you plan or assist your escape.
• Do not tell your partner or your children, or anyone close to the abuser, that you’re thinking of leaving.
• Plan the safest time and route to go.
• When you do leave, take your children with you, if possible.
• Have enough money with you for a bus, train or taxi.
• Pack an overnight bag (but if you aren’t leaving immediately, keep it somewhere outside of the house, such as at a friend’s house).
• Gather all important documents such as passports, birth certificates, marriage license, credit card or chequebook in one place so you can grab them in a hurry.
• If you call the police and want to leave the house, the police must stay with you until you gather your children and your belongings, and then they must escort you safely out of the house.

If you are still in the relationship, here are some things you can do to keep yourself safe:

• Think about what you will say to your partner if he/she becomes violent. Think about what has worked in the past.
• Document when your partner tends to get violent and keep it in a secret place – maybe you can notice a pattern or specific triggers and prepare yourself.
• If he gets violent, avoid rooms with no exits, like the bathroom and rooms with weapons, like the kitchen.
• Make a list of safe people to contact. Think of a safe place to go if he is violent, like a friend or family member’s house.
• Establish a code word or sign so that family, friends, neighbours, teachers or co-workers know when to call for help.
• Keep enough money with you at all times for a bus, train or taxi.
• Keep an overnight bag packed somewhere outside of the house, such as at a friend’s house.
• Keep all important documents such as passports, birth certificates, marriage license, credit card or chequebook in one place so that you can grab them if you need to leave suddenly.
• Teach your children where to go in case of an episode (a locked room or a neighbour’s house).

Remember, you have the right to live without fear and violence.