Harbor of Hope
If someone is hurting you, frightening you, or controlling your life, help exists and it is free. These lines are answered by trained people, 24 hours a day.
If you are in immediate danger, call 911. If it is not safe to speak, you can call and stay silent — in many areas pressing 55 signals the operator that you need help but cannot talk.
Who to call
National Domestic Violence Hotline
Text START to 88788 · TTY 1-800-787-3224
Free, confidential, 24 hours a day, every day. Interpreters for over 200 languages.
Crisis Text Line
If a call is not safe or not possible, this is a text conversation with a trained counselor.
988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline
For any mental health crisis, including thoughts of suicide. Call or text.
StrongHearts Native Helpline
Culturally appropriate support for Native American and Alaska Native communities.
loveisrespect
Text LOVEIS to 22522
For teens and young adults navigating dating abuse.
RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline
Support after sexual assault, and connection to local services.
What abuse can look like
Abuse is not only physical. Any of these, on their own, is reason enough to talk to someone.
- Checking your phone, messages, or spending, or needing to know where you are at all times.
- Cutting you off from family and friends, or making it difficult to see them.
- Controlling the money, or stopping you from working or studying.
- Blaming you for their anger, or telling you that you caused it.
- Threats — toward you, your children, your pets, or themselves.
- Making you feel unsteady about your own memory of events.
Staying safer online
The quick-exit button does not erase your history. It moves you away from this page immediately, but a browser keeps a record of where it has been.
If someone may check your device, a private or incognito window is safer than clearing history afterwards — a suddenly empty history can itself draw attention. Safest of all is a device the other person cannot reach: a library computer, a friend's phone, or a work machine.
The National Domestic Violence Hotline has detailed guidance on safety planning, including what to prepare before leaving. Their advocates will walk through it with you on the phone.
About this page
Harbor of Hope is Katherine's advocacy work: raising awareness of what abuse looks like and pointing people toward help that already exists.
It is not a crisis service and does not provide legal, medical, or housing assistance directly. The organisations listed above do, and they are staffed around the clock by people trained for exactly this.