Photo by Sydney Sims on Unsplash

How You Can Help Someone Who’s Being Abused

You might think there’s not much you can do to help an abuse victim, but there’s actually several things you can do to be prepared when they’re ready to leave.

Knowing a friend or family member is being abused and being able to do something about it are two different things. For most abuse victims, our attempts to help can actually make things much worse for them. Leaving is always dangerous.

This can leave us feeling helpless. We know they’re living in danger, but what can we do about it?

There’s not a lot we can do but there are a few things. And the good thing about all of these things is that none of them will tip the abuser off that you’re onto them, if you handle it all properly.

Note: For simplicity, since 1 in 3 women are victims of domestic violence compared to 1 in 7 men, I’m using she/her to refer to the victim (and he for the abuser since, again, that is most common). However, you can do these same things to help a male victim.

Don’t try to make her choose

You might think that trying to force a victim to choose between her abuser and you will make her realize her situation and get out — but it won’t.