How is intimate partner violence treated?
Getting and keeping the victim of domestic violence safe is an essential part of treating domestic abuse. Many legal and mental-health professionals who work with victims recommend the development of safety plans, both for home and in the workplace. Such a plan includes encouraging the victim to keep a charged cell phone in his or her possession at all times, maintaining active peace, protective, or restraining orders against the batterer, keeping a copy of the order at all times, along with distributing copies of the order to the victim’s supervisor, workplace reception area, and security, as well as to schools and day-care providers for children. It is important for battered men and women to realize that abusers sometimes escalate in their abusiveness when first served with a protective order and to take appropriately heightened safety precautions. Other elements of a safety plan may include the victim changing his or her work site, parking, or work schedule, having an emergency cont
