Safety planning

• Always trust your judgment: you know your situation best
• Try to avoid rooms without exits or where there are weapons
• If you are being attacked or assaulted, focus on protecting your head, neck and abdomen

Please know that abuse can often get worse when you’re ending a relationship or leaving a trafficking situation. Traffickers can become increasingly violent when they feel like they’re losing control. It’s important to have a safety plan and trust your judgment when taking the next steps.

• If you’re being watched or supervised, try to look for patterns in the person’s daily routines. Take note of when you’re left alone and for how long. This can help you figure out the safest time to leave
• If someone is monitoring or has access to your devices, clear the browser history and cache every time you use your smartphone, computer or tablet
• If you save the hotline or another service provider’s number to your phone, consider saving it as a different name to avoid suspicion or concern
• If possible, have a go-bag ready so you can leave quickly. Pack it with a change of clothes, medications, ID, important papers, any money you have and contact information for trusted people or services
• Try to find important items like your ID, passport, driver’s licence, birth certificate and bank card. If it’s safe to do so, hide them or make copies of them and give the copies to a trusted friend or family member for safekeeping
• If possible, let a friend, family member or service provider know when you plan to leave and share your safety plan with them. Ask them for help if it’s safe to do so
• If you’re being moved around a lot or you don’t know where you are, try to take note of nearby landmarks, street signs or the routes you travel. This can help you figure out your location if you need to contact emergency services
• Try to plan an exit route and practice it. If you can’t physically practice it, go over the steps in your head
• When you’re leaving, turn off your phone’s location tracking and power off any devices as soon as possible until you can make sure they aren’t being tracked
• If you have children with you, make sure they know who to call for help and how to do it, and where they should hide during a violent incident. Practice your exit route with them
• If you’re worried about your pets, there are resources that can help. Some shelters accept pets. Other organizations will foster your pets until you’re in a safer place. Call the hotline to find out about options near you

• Try to limit or stop contact with your trafficker and anyone connected to them: block their numbers, block them on social media and cut off any other ways they can reach you
• Consider changing the passwords for any accounts or profiles your trafficker can access
• Keep your doors locked. If your trafficker has a key, try to get the locks changed If you move, only share your new address with trusted people
• If your trafficker contacts, harasses or threatens you, write down what they said and save any voicemails, text messages or screenshots. Reach out to the hotline for advice on how to protect yourself
• If your trafficker has access to your identity documents, bank accounts or credit cards, ask us how to protect them
• Social service organizations can help keep you and your loved ones safer. The hotline is here to connect you with them when you’re ready