Understanding Abuse

Abuse isn’t just physical. It’s a pattern of controlling behavior — be it emotional, physical, financial, sexual or verbal — that one person exerts over another. It could be withholding money, threatening to take the children away or humiliating and controlling every move. It’s all abusive behavior that one person uses to control another person.

Noticing and acknowledging the warning signs and symptoms of domestic violence and abuse is the first step to ending it.