During yesterday’s blog post, we discussed a few ways to be a good friend to someone experiencing abuse within their relationship. One of the steps was helping them create a safety plan. A safety plan is a guide that helps you think of ways to achieve a greater level of safety if/and when you interact with your partner. Today’s blog post will highlight some ideas to include when creating a safety plan.

Tell someone
If you can (feel safe enough), talk to a friend, trusted adult, teacher, neighbor, parent/caregiver, and let them know what is going on in your relationship and how you’d like for them to support you.

Find a safe place
Find a place where you feel safe. This can be a public place, a room in your house, a friend’s house, etc. If you feel safe enough, let a friend and/or trusted adult know about your safe place.

Change up your routine/schedule
If you think that your partner may be following/stalking you, try using multiple routes to and from school, work, etc. Also, try varying your schedule by leaving appointments at different times each day. Make sure to let people you trust know where you are going and when you are coming back.

Document the abuse
If you can, save abusive text messages, emails, voice mails, destruction of property, and photos. If you wish to go through the legal process, this can help your case.

Meet in public
If you need to meet with your partner, make sure that it’s done in a public place with many witnesses. Try not to be alone with your partner and avoid rooms without an exit, kitchens, bathrooms, garages, or any other secluded rooms with access to potential weapons.

Protect your social networks
Make sure that you are aware of your privacy settings on Facebook, twitter, Instagram, etc. Your partner may use this information to track your location. If this is a concern, avoid publishing your location and make sure that your information is only visible to the people you trust.

Travel with friends
Make sure you have friends to travel with to and from school and/or work, and in between classes.

Create a code word
Create a code word that you can use to tell someone if you are in danger, without your partner knowing.

Make a list
Create a list of local resources and/or hotlines to reach out to when in danger or to seek support. Include police, domestic violence/sexual assault organizations, local shelters, etc.

Keep it safe
Keep your safety plan somewhere safe and with you at all times.

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If at any point you have questions and/or need to speak to someone about your relationship, please call either the SPAN (303) 444-2424 or MESA (303) 443-7300 hotlines. MESA and SPAN have specially trained counselors who are available 24/7/365. The hotlines are free, and they also have Spanish-speaking counselors.

You don’t need to be in crisis to call the phone numbers. You can call anytime, even if just to say, ‘I saw something happen between two friends of mine and I didn’t know what to think,’ or ‘I’m just looking for some information.’

Anyone can call these numbers. You can call about a friend, a family member, or about yourself. The call is totally confidential and you don’t need to give the counselor personal information about yourself such as your name and phone number. You can use a fake name or no name if you want.