Recognising the signs of an abusive relationship is not easy

It is an escalation of events and behaviours that can lead to harming and damaging consequences for the victims.

Domestic violence

If you are reading this, you have probably come from an exhausting online search to find an answer to your question.

Am I in an abusive relationship?

Any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive or threatening behaviour, violence or abuse. The abuse can be psychological, physical, sexual, financial, emotional.

So far, medical information, as much as they can give you an idea of what you are dealing with, have not yet helped you realise that yes, there is a problem behind your closed doors.

Because is not because you have never had a black eye, that there is no abuse.

Domestic violence has all sorts of shapes and forms.

But you have probably already taken your the first step into realising that there is an issue and seeking for answers. This is why you are here.

And you should already be proud of yourself. There is no shame in seeking support. You shouldn’t be feeling judged for trying to free yourself from what is hurting you. Physically or emotionally.

You Are Not Alone

According to the Crime Survey for England and Wales year ending March 2019, an estimated 5.7% of adults (2.4 million) experienced domestic abuse in the last year, only in the UK*.

These figures represent only the tip of the iceberg. There are probably thousands of unreported cases of people out there facing the same issues.

Odi et Amo aims to provide support to the community by sharing stories from other people that, like you, had a history of abuse.

Domestic violence has no gender, race and age. Every story here is welcome, and it belongs to a “respect lives” manifesto, of others and your own.

We hope that by showing you that this is a shared community issue, you’ll be able to see clearly that what is happening to you is not ok and that there is hope out there.

We want to help you to say stop and help you to see that you can do it!

Because you are strong, and You Are Not Alone.

*https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/articles/domesticabuseprevalenceandtrendsenglandandwales/yearendingmarch2019