Online counselling
Domestic Abuse
Home > Services > Domestic Abuse
Domestic Abuse
No person deserves to be a victim of domestic abuse.
Recognizing the Problem
Abusive relationships can happen to anyone. While it’s normal to experience turbulent periods in a relationship, it’s not healthy to constantly be belittled, put down or mistreated. But, how can you tell that you’re in an abusive relationship? Early signs of domestic abuse show up in being fearful of upsetting your partner. If you feel like you’re walking on eggshells around your partner or always hyper-aware of your words and actions in order to avoid an outburst, you may be in an abusive relationship.
The Many Faces of Domestic Abuse
If your partner threatens you, belittles you, calls you names, manipulates you or tries to control you, you may be experiencing domestic abuse. This can be emotional or physical abuse and while they’re both equally as damaging to the victim’s psyche, emotional abuse is much harder to recognize. Over time, this can chip away at your self-esteem, leading to feelings of self-loathing, helplessness and low self-worth. It might make you depressed, overwhelmed by anxiety, or in some cases, have thoughts of self-harm.
Contrary to popular belief, domestic abuse doesn’t always include physical abuse. At the heart of all forms of abuse lies the desire to gain power and control over you. Your partner may intimidate you and threaten the things you love most like your family, friends, career, or pets. Over time, victims of domestic violence begin to lose their perception of reality and what’s okay and what’s not okay. This makes it increasingly difficult to gather the courage to leave, especially if they don’t have a support system.
Gathering the Courage to Move Forward
Talking it through with a professional is the first step towards change, especially if you’ve become so isolated in your relationship and don’t have external support. Most importantly, seeking help while in an abusive relationship is, more often than not, better done so alone. Relationship counselling is only effective when the perpetrator wants to change, and when the victim feels safe enough to open up about the abuse.
Maryam will hold space for you as you open up about your experiences in a safe, non-judgemental. Being able to sit with them, process them and have them validated can be an incredibly healing experience. Truly understanding your thoughts, feelings, emotions and behaviours can give you the courage to leave a potentially dangerous relationship. Maryam will be your guiding light throughout this process as you grieve the relationship, the parts of yourself that you lost, and come out the other side a much happier, healthier and more confident version of yourself.
Individual Counselling
