It’s been a hard few months, right? So many changes and uncertainty. Is your job in jeopardy? Will the kids be going to school? Who is going to homeschool the kids? How will you pay bills? Where can you get toilet paper and other necessities?

Now imagine all those worries while being isolated with an abuser. Truthfully an abuser doesn’t need an excuse to become violent but in these uncertain times abuse escalates. Not able to leave the house, there is no one to see the bruises and the abuser knows this.

Control Alt Delete helps remove the barriers that often keep people in unsafe abusive situations. How do we remove the barriers? First, we have to identify what is keeping the victim in the abusive situation. 98% of all victims are also financially abused. They may want to escape but do not have the financial means to do so. While Arizona has wonderful domestic violence shelters, there are often waitlists.

If we can provide a gas card to allow them to flee we do. If there is a few days wait to get into a shelter – we may provide a hotel room. So far no two escapes have been the same.

Since September of 2019, we have helped facilitate over 740 escapes. What used to be an average of an escape a day has increased drastically in recent weeks. It is not a coincidence that the increase has happened in conjunction with COVID, quarantine, and now citywide curfews. The number of escapes also increases on holidays. Since mid-March, we have seen a noticeable increase in escapes. St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, Cinco de Mayo, Mother’s Day and Memorial Day weekend all had high numbers of escapes.

Check on your friends and family. If you have the ability, let them know they can come to you if they need help or a place to stay. If you are in an abusive relationship there is help. Control Alt Delete – because sometimes you need to reset your life!