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SafeHouse Center
24/7 HelpLine: 734-995-5444
If you are in immediate danger, call 911.
Linea de Apoyo de 24 horas: 734-995-5444
Si esta en grave peligro, llame a 911.

Services for Youth

SafeHouse Center’s Services for Teens

SafeHouse Center provides individual crisis support, support groups, legal advocacy, and health services to teenagers aged 14 and up with parental permission. SafeHouse Center provides walk-in support and access to our 24/7 HelpLine to teenagers aged 14 and up without parental permission. Our services are free and confidential.

SafeHouse Center also has a volunteer program for high school students called Teen Voice. Visit the Teen Voice page to learn more about Teen Voice or click here to request a Teen Voice presentation.

What is Dating Violence?

Dating violence is a pattern of coercive power and control that one person uses over someone with whom they are in an intimate relationship. Abusers (batterers) use a variety of tactics which can include physical violence, sexual violence emotional abuse, intimidation, threats, and money to control their partner.

Abuse happens to people of all races, cultures, religious beliefs, sexual orientations, gender identities, educational backgrounds, and economic levels. The only characteristic common to those who are being abused is that the person they are in a relationship with is hurting them and exercising power and control over them.

Abuse does not go away on its own, and almost always gets worse over time. The only person to blame for the abuse is the one who is being abusive. The batterer makes a choice to be abusive, which makes the responsibility of stopping the abuse with the batterer, never the survivor.

Adolescents are commonly seen as immature, irrational, and dramatic. Often their feelings are discounted, and their concerns are not taken seriously. As a result, their relationships are frequently viewed as trivial “puppy love”. Because adolescent relationships are often viewed in this context, the seriousness, or even existence, of teen dating violence is often minimized.

Adolescents do not have the same rights in society as adults. This limits a dating violence survivor’s choices when seeking resources for help. For example, she must decide whether her need for help outweighs the risk of telling her parents what she has been experiencing at the hands of her partner. If her parents do not approve of her dating, or do not know she is sexually involved, she may be extremely hesitant to go to them for help. Consequently, dating violence survivor’s options and safety are limited by things such as parental consent laws, lack of transportation, lack of money, lack of confidential healthcare and mental health resources, and lack of programming specific to adolescents needs.