Getting Help
What will getting help be like?
As soon as a person calls for help, that person is a client of Family Abuse Services, a non-profit agency, no fees charged. Clients are connected immediately to possibility and to resources even beyond Family Abuse Services should they desire. Clients will be asked to tell what is happening in their life and what steps they feel are vital to removing themselves from an abusive situation. Clients will be given suggestions of the possible directions to take in order to find the safest path out of pain. Clients may qualify for financial assistance. Clients will be encouraged to find their safest path out of abuse and into a life of self-sustaining growth, recovery and well-balanced healthy relationships.
Family Abuse Services provides crisis counseling and safety planning for people leaving an abusive relationship. The time of leaving an abusive relationship is known to be the most dangerous time. It is during this time that all efforts toward safety need to be made with attention to detail and with regard to the risk. Some find they must leave without a second glance, while others must plan ahead or involve law enforcement. Many realities include a combination of these scenarios.
The basics of safety planning consist of preparation and hiding of the following items in a safe place where the abuser will not discover them:
- $50 or more in cash
- Small bag with clothes for you and your children
- Extra house and car keys
- Medication
- Sentimental valuables/photos
- Important papers including: bank account numbers, checkbook, social security numbers, insurance policies, marriage, divorce, separation and other legal papers, birth certificates, phone numbers of family and friends
