IF YOU'RE BEING ABUSED BY A SPOUSE, BOYFRIEND OR GIRLFRIEND, TELL SOMEONE WHAT'S GOING ON AND PLAN NOW FOR YOUR ESCAPE...

• Choose a place to go - a friend or relative who will offer support no matter what, a motel or hotel, a shelter for battered women.
• Pack a survival kit with money for cab fare, a change of clothes, extra hose and car keys, birth certificates, passports, medications and copies of prescriptions, insurance information, checkbooks, credit cards, legal documents such as separation agreements and protection orders, address book, any valuable jewelry and papers that show jointly owned assets. Conceal it at home or leave it with a trusted neighbor or friend.
• Try to start an individual savings account. Have statements sent to a trusted relative, neighbor or friend.
• Know the number of the Quigley House Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Center hotline is 284-0061 or 1-800-339-5017. Contact them for information on resources and legal rights. If you are not in the immediate area, you can call the statewide domestic violence hotline at 1-800-500-1119, option 2.
• Think about all possible escape routes: doors, first floor windows, basement exits, elevators, stairwells, etc.
• Review your safety plan monthly.
• Avoid arguments with the abuser in areas with potential weapons, like the kitchen or garage and in small places without access to an outside door.
• If you are threatened and fear for your life, call 911 immediately.