When living with family and domestic violence you can feel:

• uncomfortable and embarrassed about bringing friends back to your house, so you avoid doing this
• scared to be away from home because you’re worried something bad may happen to your mum or other family members or you may feel afraid to go home, and avoid it as much as possible
• lonely when you compare your family with other families that seem so happy
• distracted and find it hard to concentrate on your schoolwork and you might not want to get involved in school activities
• afraid to be at home at all and lose your sense of
  belonging
• angry toward the abusive parent or family member, or sometimes you may feel angry toward the person who is being abused and blame them for what is happening
• as if it is your fault and that it must be something you’re doing to cause this to happen - sometimes your parents may say you are to blame
• really scared, not knowing how bad the next fight might be
• like you want to intervene and try to stop the fights from happening
• you want to call the police or your neighbours for help, but fear the consequences of doing that
• frustrated and alone because you don’t know how to fix the problem
• angry at yourself and may blame yourself for what is happening.

If you think it’s safe, then you could try writing down the things that are happening to you in a diary or journal. Sometimes it helps to write down how you are feeling. Having stuff locked inside you can make you feel pretty bad. It’s important if you keep a diary or journal to make sure it’s kept in a safe place so that no one can read it except you.

How to keep safe