Family violence – Find supports

Ending a relationship is the most dangerous time for someone experiencing family violence. You can create a safety plan that prepares you to end or leave a family violence or domestic violence situation.

Plan your exit strategy

Trained staff can help you create an emergency escape plan and find safety.

• Contact Family Violence Info Line: Call 310-1818, Text 310-1818, or Chat online.
• Find an emergency shelter near you. Shelter workers provide important supports to Albertans whether they stay at the shelter or not.

Things to consider:

• Talk to someone you trust. If you tell someone outside your home about the abuse, they can help keep you and your family safe.
• Decide where you and your children can go if you need to leave in a hurry, and if possible try to arrange it beforehand. Be careful about going to the home of a friend or relative where your abuser will think to look. Find an emergency shelter near you.
• Get help with costs to leave an abusive situation and get to safety, set up a household or start a new life.
• If you need to break your rental lease, get a Safer Spaces Certificate to avoid paying a penalty.
• Find a place for pets to stay. Alberta SPCA’s pet safekeeping program can help.
• Pack an emergency bag. Include identification, important documents and other things you will need when you leave.
• Plan transportation. Have car keys, bus tickets, or another means of transportation ready.
• Talk to your children about what is going on. Do not try to pretend it is not happening.
• Write down incidents. Keep a record of any violent, abusive, harassing and stalking activities that happen if you can.
• Once you leave, stop contact. Give an abusive partner you do not live with or stalker one clear message that you want the relationship and all contact with you, your family and friends to end.
• Contact your local police service or victim services unit to find out about emergency restraining and protection orders. 

Family violence is complex. For a variety of reasons, people may stay in abusive relationships. A safety plan can be important in keeping you safe.

If you choose not to leave, or cannot leave:

• Contact Family Violence Info Line: Call 310-1818, Text 310-1818, or Chat online.
• Reach out to an emergency shelter near you. Shelter workers provide important supports to Albertans whether they stay at the shelter or not.
• Tell someone you know you are being abused; talk about how they can help you stay safe.
• Find out how to get emergency restraining and protection orders.
• Find out if someone has an abusive past. Under Clare’s Law, if you feel at risk of domestic violence you can get information about a partner and make an informed choice about your safety.
• Be prepared to leave by creating an emergency escape plan.
• Have a packed bag hidden where the abuser will not find it, but you can easily get it and go.

Find more strategies for safety.

Abusers, stalkers and other criminals can get information about you and make contact through your online activities. There are things you can do to stay safe when you visit websites, shop online, or use email or social media.

Web browsing

Prevent information from being stored on your computer or mobile device when you search the internet for information:

• activate private browsing mode
• clear your history in any browser

Email

Help stop unwanted emails from an abuser or anyone you do not trust by:

• not using existing email accounts and saving any harassing emails from the abuser to give the police
• creating a new email account with a username that does not let others identify you – send a test email to yourself to make sure your real name does not show anywhere
• changing your existing password and creating a new one that is difficult to figure out
• using the new email only with people you trust and asking them not to share it or any information about you with the abuser

Social media

To stay safe, change how you use social media by:

• using your new email to create new accounts for social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn
• choosing a username that does not let others identify you
• not using photos of yourself or photos that would make it easy to identify you
• setting your account to private so only friends can see you
• being careful adding friends so the abusive family member will not get access to your account through a friend’s login
• turning off the location function that shows where you are when you post
• shutting off the Bluetooth function on mobile devices

Online shopping

Help prevent an abuser from getting access to your payment and delivery information by:

• closing all the accounts you use for online shopping
• opening new accounts with your new email and a secure password

Safer Spaces Certificate – Apply for the certificate if you are living with domestic violence and need to break your rental lease without paying a penalty.

Employment standards laws allow eligible employees to take up to 10 days of unpaid, job-protected leave if they are facing violence in the home.

• Domestic violence leave

Contact Alberta’s One Line for Sexual Violence for help finding sexual assault support services (9 am to 9 pm daily):

• Phone: 1-866-403-8000 (215+ languages)
• Text: 1-866-403-8000 (English only)
• Chat online (English only)

Sexual violence – Get help

Mental Health Helpline: call 1-877-303-2642

• Native Counselling Services of Alberta – if you need help with court processes or Children’s Services, or connecting to youth supports and other community resources
• Alberta Native Friendship Centres Association – if you want to connect with services for people who have been abused or who abuse others
• Métis and Indigenous Children’s Services offices or Delegated First Nations Agencies – if you are a member of either community and need help with supports for your children

• Get help for child abuse, neglect and sexual exploitation

• Local victim services units – for help with restraining and protection orders or other supports for victims of crime
• Local sexual assault centres – if you have experienced any form of sexual violence and need crisis support or counselling
• Legal Aid Services at 1-866-845-3425 – if you need help with legal issues
• File a restraining order or emergency protection order – if someone has made you afraid for your safety
• Under Clare’s Law, if you feel at risk of domestic violence, get information about a partner so you can make an informed choice about your safety

• Alberta Supports – ask trained staff for help finding supports
• 211 Alberta: Call, Text or Chat online at 211 Alberta