Ideally, the teen years are a time for young women and men to enjoy the excitement of new social relationships. Meeting someone you like who likes you back can be an awesome, flattering adventure. Unfortunately, for some teens, the new relationship can become abusive.

That abuse can look different for different people. It might be physical. It might be emotional and insulting. It might mean pressure to have sex. It might mean your partner texts you a hundred times a day to keep tabs on you and limit your access to friends.

But there is help available, and things you can do to protect yourself. Here are just a few:

• Know that you are not responsible for the abuse or the violence. Be aware, it will probably happen again and get worse over time.
• Find someone you can talk to about the abuse. This may be a friend, teacher, counselor, trusted adult, your parents or a hotline.
• Think of things to do to be safe if your partner begins to act violent or abusive, such as calling a friend to give you a ride home or getting to a public location.
• It can feel uncomfortable standing up for yourself, but being uncomfortable will never cost your life. Violence can.

 

Get more info about:

Project H.A.R.T. Presentations

Individual Counseling for Teen Girls

Guy's Group

Teen Talk for Girls

Local Resources, Web Sites and Telephone Numbers

 

About the use of pronouns on safeconnections.org:

According to the most comprehensive national study by the U.S. Department of Justice on family and relationship violence, the vast majority of domestic violence and sexual assault victims are female, and the vast majority of perpetrators are male. For that reason, feminine pronouns are primarily used on this site when referring to victims of violence, and male pronouns are primarily used when referring to perpetrators of violence. This should not detract from our understanding that, in some cases, the perpetrator might be female while the victim is male or of the same gender. All victims are deserving of compassion and services to address the violence in their lives.