Safety Planning

You deserve support that respects your circumstances, your choices, and your safety.

If you are in immediate danger, contact local emergency services. In the United States, call 911 if it is safe to do so.

A plan that fits your situation

A safety plan considers what might help while you remain in a relationship, prepare to leave, or recover after leaving. You do not have to be ready to leave to ask for help. Leaving can increase danger in some situations, so an advocate can help you consider the safest timing and options.

Use the National Domestic Violence Hotline’s safety planning resource from a safer device. Keep any written plan only where it is unlikely to be found.

Identify support and immediate options

  • Choose a trusted person you can contact and discuss a simple signal for needing help.
  • Consider where you could go and how you could get there, including transportation and accessibility needs.
  • Think about children, pets, medication, essential documents, keys, and assistive devices.
  • Ask a local advocate about shelter, transportation, financial assistance, and other available services. Availability varies.

Documenting abuse

If it is safe, keep a factual record of dates, behaviors, injuries, threats, or messages. Store it somewhere the other person cannot readily access, such as with a trusted person. Do not put yourself at risk to gather evidence. Recording laws and the usefulness of evidence vary; a local advocate or attorney can advise you.

Financial preparation

Consider what you would need for transportation, housing, food, childcare, and medication. If safe, locate identification, account information, insurance records, and essential financial documents. New accounts, transfers, or mailed statements may be noticed. Discuss safe options with an advocate, and seek legal advice before moving shared assets or changing arrangements affected by a court order.

Digital security

If someone may monitor your phone, accounts, or internet use, consider a device they have not accessed. Private or incognito browsing cannot make a monitored device safe.

Changes to passwords, shared location settings, connected devices, or account access may alert the other person. Plan changes with a technology-safety advocate when possible. Review the Safety Net Project’s technology safety guidance.

What Quick Exit can and cannot do

A Quick Exit link takes you to another website in the same tab. It does not erase browser history, close other tabs, remove downloads, or hide activity from monitoring software. Browser back buttons, synced accounts, and network records may still reveal your visit. Consider whether clearing history or changing device settings could itself raise suspicion.

Children and co-parenting

Children should not be asked to intervene in abuse or carry messages between adults. A local advocate can help with age-appropriate safety planning. Ask an attorney familiar with domestic violence about custody, exchanges, communication, travel, and existing court orders. General online advice cannot determine what is safe or legally appropriate for your family.

Find legal help through WomensLaw.org.

After leaving

Support may still be needed after separation. Review contact arrangements, access to your home, work or school concerns, and technology with an advocate. You can revise your plan as circumstances change.

Talk with an advocate

In the U.S., contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233, text START to 88788, or visit TheHotline.org. Consider whether calls, texts, or online activity could be seen by someone else.

View emergency support options.

Sources and further reading

Rise & Recover provides education and resource links. It does not provide diagnosis, treatment, legal advice, or emergency response. Get urgent support.