Immediate help
Confidential, 24/7 support from a trained advocate.
Support • Safety • Hope
You are not alone.
You deserve safety, support, and a life free from abuse. Find confidential help, make a personal safety plan, and take your next step at your own pace.
If you are in immediate danger in the U.S., call 911.
There is hope.Support can help you feel safe, heard, and in control again.
Choose what you need
One small step is still a step forward.
Make a safety plan
Small, private steps for home, work, children, pets, and leaving.
Find local support
Shelters, counseling, legal help, financial aid, and healthcare.
Learn the signs
Understand emotional, physical, financial, sexual, and digital abuse.
Hope & healing
Gentle guidance for rebuilding confidence and learning to live again.
Apoyo en español
Ayuda confidencial, un plan de seguridad y recursos en español.
Confidential help, 24/7
You can talk to someone now.
National Domestic Violence Hotline advocates can listen without judgment, help you explore options, and connect you with local services. You do not have to be ready to leave to ask for support.
Your safety, your choices
A personal safety plan
A plan is not a promise to leave. It is a private set of options that can help you respond more safely. Only choose steps that fit your situation.
0% of this private checklist reviewed
Recognize abuse
Abuse is about power and control.
It can happen without physical violence. Your experience is real even if other people cannot see it.
Emotional abuse+
Humiliation, constant criticism, threats, isolation, intimidation, or making you doubt your reality.
Coercive control+
Rules about where you go, what you wear, who you see, or punishments when you make your own choices.
Financial abuse+
Taking your money, blocking work or school, creating debt in your name, or denying access to basic needs.
Digital abuse+
Demanding passwords, tracking your location, impersonating you, monitoring devices, or harassing you online.
Physical or sexual abuse+
Any unwanted contact, restraint, injury, strangulation, reproductive control, or sexual activity without consent.
The cycle of abuse+
Tension may build, an incident occurs, then apologies or calm follow. The pattern can repeat and often intensify.
Find the right support
You do not have to do this alone.
Learn to live again
Healing can begin with one safe moment.
After abuse, ordinary life can feel unfamiliar. Healing is not forgetting or rushing to “move on.” It is slowly rebuilding safety in your body, trust in your choices, and space for rest, connection, and joy.
- Start with sleep, food, hydration, and medical care.
- Create one gentle routine that belongs only to you.
- Let trusted people support you without taking over.
- Celebrate choices, boundaries, and peaceful moments.
Today’s reminder
“What happened to you does not define what is possible for you.”
You are allowed to heal slowly.
Stories of hope
Support can make room for a new life.
These composite stories protect privacy while reflecting common paths survivors take toward safety and healing.
“
Maya’s new beginning
The first person who believed me helped me believe myself again.
With an advocate, Maya made a plan that fit her real life. Counseling and a local support group helped her sleep, laugh, and reconnect with the parts of herself she thought were gone. Today, her life is quiet in the best way—and completely her own.
“
Jordan found steady ground
I did not have to solve everything in one day.
Jordan started with one confidential phone call. A local program helped with safe housing, legal information, and work transportation. Each small step brought more choice. Support did not erase the past, but it made room for a future.
“
Elena learned to live again
Healing was not a straight line, but every safe day mattered.
Elena rebuilt routines slowly: morning walks, meals with a trusted friend, therapy, music, and rest without apology. She discovered that joy could return in small moments—and those moments could grow.
Voices of hope
Survivors deserve a future filled with choice.
These privacy-protecting composite reflections are inspired by common themes in survivor healing. They are not submitted testimonials or promises of a particular outcome.
“I am learning that peace is not something I have to earn.”
Looking toward the future
My future includes a quiet home, honest friendships, and mornings when I can breathe without fear.
“For a long time, I could only plan one hour ahead. Now I can imagine next year.”
Looking toward the future
I want to finish school, build financial independence, and help my children feel secure.
“Support helped me hear my own voice again.”
Looking toward the future
I am practicing boundaries, choosing people who respect them, and making room for joy without apology.
“Starting over did not mean starting from nothing—I brought courage with me.”
Looking toward the future
I picture steady work, safe relationships, laughter, and a life shaped by my own choices.
“Healing has been uneven, but I can see how far I have come.”
Looking toward the future
I hope to become the calm, dependable person I once needed and to keep choosing safety every day.
“I no longer believe the worst thing that happened is the end of my story.”
Looking toward the future
There are birthdays, new traditions, peaceful weekends, and dreams I have not met yet.
Your future belongs to you.
Healing may include safety, rest, education, work, friendship, parenting, creativity, advocacy, or simply feeling at home in your own life. There is no single timeline and no required version of success.
Read the healing guide →Support in a few minutes
Watch: you are not alone
15-second message of hope
Support can help you learn to live again.
Share this short clip to remind someone that confidential help, safety planning, and hope are available.
More trusted support resources
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What happens when you contact an advocate?
A calm introduction to confidential support, choices, and what you can expect.
Open trusted resource ↗▶
Safety planning at your pace
Learn why a plan is personal and how an advocate can help you think through risks.
Open trusted resource ↗▶
Protecting your digital privacy
Practical survivor-centered guidance about phones, accounts, location sharing, and evidence.
Open trusted resource ↗Ayuda en español
No estás sola. No estás solo.
Mereces seguridad, apoyo y una vida libre de abuso. Puedes hablar con una persona capacitada de manera gratuita y confidencial, las 24 horas.
Make an impact
Help keep hope on the line.
Your gift helps the National Domestic Violence Hotline continue providing confidential support, safety planning, and connections to resources for people affected by relationship abuse.
Donations are completed securely on the official National Domestic Violence Hotline website.Original Safe Haven guides
Learn at your own pace.
Warning signs of abuseRecognize patterns of power and control →Digital safetyThink through phones, accounts, and location →Support a friendListen, believe, and help without taking over →Financial safety planningBuild information and options carefully →Healing after abuseRebuild safety, confidence, and hope →How we create contentRead our safety and editorial standards →
More practical support
Detailed guidance for real-life situations.
Preparing to leave more safelyPlan privately and reduce avoidable risks →Children and petsInclude every family member in safety planning →Workplace safetyCreate options for schedules, calls, and arrival →Housing after abuseExplore shelter, transitional, and rental options →Medical care and documentationKnow when urgent care matters and preserve choice →Documenting abuse more safelyPreserve information without putting evidence before safety →Building a support networkAsk for practical help while protecting privacy and choice →LGBTQ+ survivor supportRecognize identity-based control and find affirming help →Immigrant survivor supportConsider language, documents, and legal referrals →Disability and abusePlan around access, care, equipment, and communication →