Tips on escaping
Are you considering escaping?
You are being abused if your partner:
- Puts you down verbally
- Calls you names
- Shouts or yells at you
- Ridicules your appearance, beliefs, religion, or race
- Is jealous and accuses you of having affairs
- Isolates you from family and friends
- Tells you how to act and dress
- Criticizes you constantly
- Blames you for problems in the relationship
- Withholds information about your finances
- Forces you into unwanted sexual acts
- Physically abuses you in any way (hits, punches, slaps, chokes, shoves)
- Threatens to harm or take the children away
- Threatens to commit suicide if you leave
- Opens your mail and/or monitors your phone calls
- Follows you when you are out of the house
- Accumulates debt in joint names without your consent
- Harms or kills family pets
Tips On Leaving
- Don’t tell your partner you are leaving
- Take your children with you when you leave and bring favourite items or toys
- Plan an emergency exit
- Keep money in a safe place for taxi, and phone cards
- Make sure you have valuable documents (passports, birth certificates, marriage certificates, immigration papers, OHIP cards, SIN cards, bank books and back cards)
- Bring documents that prove you have been living at the same address as your partner
- Keep extra clothing, house and car keys, money, copies or originals of important papers, and significant phone numbers at a safe location. If you can, have an emergency suitcase packed and ready to go.
