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Think sexual assault is a rare occurrence?

Think again.

April is sexual assault awareness month and there's no better time to learn about this epidemic of violence and how you can support survivors.

Abuse is more than just physical.
If you feel unloved or unsafe in your relationship, or you are controlled, manipulated, or humiliated by your partner, this is emotional abuse.

For more information on emotional abuse visit The National Domestic Violence Hotline at https://www.thehotline.org/resources/what-is-emotional-abuse/

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April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

Today we're sharing some simple things you can say the survivor in your life. You don't need to have the perfect words. What matters most is that you show up and offer support, listen without judgment, and respect their choices.

Great information here 💜
And this is another great page to follow if you want to learn more about domestic violence and domestic violence survivors.

🗣️When someone is in an unsafe relationship/ situation, their decision-making is not the same as someone on the outside looking in.

🧠Trauma changes the brain.

💪🏼It doesn’t make someone weak.
It makes them survive.

When a person is experiencing ongoing fear, control, or harm, their brain shifts into survival mode.
Instead of asking, “What’s the best long-term decision?”
Their mind is asking, “What keeps me safest right now?”

👀That can look like:
• Staying when leaving feels more dangerous
• Saying yes to avoid escalation
• Protecting the abuser to prevent retaliation
• Returning after leaving
• Not asking for help when it feels unsafe to do so

👎To someone on the outside, these choices can be misunderstood as “bad decisions.”

But they are not made from freedom.
They are made from fear, coercion, and survival.

📌This is where victim blaming begins.

When we don’t understand trauma, we judge the outcome instead of recognizing the conditions.

💜Survivors are not choosing abuse.
They are navigating it the best way they can with the information, fear, and barriers in front of them.

If we want to support survivors, we have to shift the question from:
“Why didn’t they just leave?”

To:
“What were they facing that made leaving feel impossible, or dangerous?”

Because the truth is,
many survivors are making incredibly strategic decisions…
in situations no one should ever have to survive.

THIS.