Image Credit: Savannah B. from Unsplash.
Nobody wants to be in a position where they were abused. Thankfully, most people aren’t. That doesn’t mean they wouldn’t know someone who was. There could come a point where a friend tells you they were abused. Most people don’t know how to react when they’re in this situation.
You’ll want to be supportive, but what should you actually do? As overwhelming as this experience seems, there are more than a few steps you can take to help your friend. Some of these could be much more important than others.
Express Care & Concern
One of the first steps to take is making sure your friend knows you care about them and you’re concerned about them. More than a few factors play a role in this, and it’s worth making sure your friend knows you care. Let them know you believe them and that their abuse wasn’t their fault in the slightest.
Your friend could be experiencing a range of emotions after the abuse, and all of these are valid. Help them work through these emotions by letting them know you’re there for them and you genuinely care about them and how they’re feeling.
Let Them Know They’re Not Alone
Many victims of abuse often feel like they’re alone. They believe nobody will understand what they’re going through. That’s despite the fact they’re not alone, and plenty of people will understand exactly what they’re going through. Make sure your friend knows this going forward. It could help them more than you’d think.
Let them know they’re not alone. Expressing care and concern, as mentioned above, helps with this. It’s also worth letting them know there are plenty of resources available to help them with what they’re experiencing. Add in you’re there to help them through it, too.
Encourage Pursuing Justice
Abuse is a crime, no matter what form it comes in. It’s always worth keeping that in mind. After taking the above steps, it’s worth making sure your friend knows that. It could also be worth encouraging them to report the abuse and taking steps to have the abuser punished for their actions.
Alongside alerting the authorities, there are more than a few other parts of this. Your friend could need a legal advocate for victims of sexual abuse in detention centers for example. Take the time to encourage them to look for this. Help them with it, if you can, so the justice system can do its job.
Nobody expects to be in a position where a friend – or even family member – tells them they were abused. With how unexpected it is, it’s natural not to know what to do when it happens. Naturally, you’ll want to be as supportive as possible, but where do you even start?
After a friend tells you they were abused, it’s worth taking a few specific steps. It’ll help make sure they know you care, while also encouraging them to look after yourself. You’ve no reason not to make sure you take the right steps going forward.
