General Safety Tips

STAYING SAFE FOR HOMELESS YOUTH

The following is a list of different things I can use/do to keep myself safe if I am homeless or on the streets.

• Identify if there are youth homeless shelters in my community
• Identify if there are youth drop-in centers near me
• Ensure I have an emergency contact who knows my medical history
• Find something noisy to use to alert others if I am in danger.
• Identify service providers that can provide support:
  • Teen clinics
  • Counseling services
  • Domestic violence services
  • Sexual assault
  • Queer & trans services

If I am staying on the streets, I can do these things to stay safer: 

• • Stay in areas that…
    • I am familiar with, where I don’t think my partner will be.
    • Have people nearby who I know and feel safe with.
    • The ground is cushioned, if possible (i.e grass, turf, tan bark, etc.)
    • Nearby somewhere/someone with a phone.
    • Are public spaces or will have people nearby (i.e liquor stores, parks, libraries, youth/community centers, etc.)

STAYING SAFE ONLINE

The following is a list of different things I can do to keep myself safe online:

• If I am concerned that my partner/ex-partner could access my account and delete emails (which I have saved for evidence), I can print out or take screenshots of the content, including the headers. I will NOT forward emails as they will lose the identifying information needed for evidence. 
• I can work with law enforcement to send a Preservation Letter to my phone company so that my data (text messages) isn’t destroyed, as the carriers only keep them for a limited time. *Law enforcement can also do this with social media and online companies, to preserve information. 
• I can save email content by printing or taking screenshots of the email. Before forwarding the email to anyone, I should save the email header (which is often hidden and can be found in the settings) because it contains the IP address, that can trace the email to whoever originally sent it. *Forwarded emails lose the IP address and make it hard to identify the original sender.
• I can take screenshots of any harm or harassing messages, comments, or posts that come up on my different social media/s or video game chats. 
• I can report harm or harassment to the social media or website company so it can be taken down. I can also block a user from having access to my page. 
• I can make sure to pick a username that doesn’t include my real name, or other identifying information (i.e. where I go to school/work, what city I live in, etc.)
• I can make an email for social media, gaming or other online media, that doesn’t contain my real name, and make sure each account has different passwords. 
• I can search for myself online, specifying my hometown or job to narrow the search, and see what public information on my account/s, I can make private.
• I can click “no” when sites or apps offer to check your contact list to help connect you with your friends already on their site. 
• I can opt-out of having my profile be searchable on the site itself, and from showing up in general search results (i.e. Google, Instagram, Facebook, etc.) 
• I can read the privacy policies of apps and sites to find out if someone else has access to my information and how my partner/ex-partner can get it.
• I can make sure that any links and attachments that are sent or advertised to me are valid. 
  • P.S. if it is an unknown link, it may try to install spyware on my devices. 
• I can use antivirus software, keep it updated, and regularly scan my devices.
  • I can periodically delete history, cookies, temporary internet files, and saved forms and passwords from my web browser.
• I can trust my instincts, and stop contact with someone at any time if I feel uncomfortable. 
  • I can block this user and change my username, in order to keep myself safe. 

Meeting up with someone from the internet or online games:

• I can let a friend know where I am going, some information about who I am meeting with (i.e. name, picture, username, address), and possibly share my location with them.
• I can meet someone when I am comfortable and ready to, and I can make sure that I am meeting up with them in a place where I feel safe, and public and where there are a lot of other people around. 
• I can make sure not to give out money to someone I have been talking to online, even if they say that is the only way they can meet me. 
• If I feel uncomfortable when I meet up with someone in person, I can always choose to leave early and have someone pick me up.

STAYING SAFE ON SOCIAL MEDIA 

The following is a list of different things I can use/do to keep myself safe on social media:

• Know which accounts my partner/ex-partner or their friends/family follow me on.
• Unfriend and block partner/ex-partner and their friends/family.
• Change my passwords on all accounts to something very hard to guess.
• Delete all of the fingerprints that are saved on my phone, so that only I have access to my phone and its information.
• Report any harassment to social media platforms.
• Keep a record of our conversations and any attempts to contact me.
• Set accounts to private.
• Ignore friend requests from people that I don’t know or other suspicious accounts.
• Unshare my location with anyone I have previously shared it with and turn off my location on Snapchat maps or any other shared maps. 
• Refrain from checking in on apps that share my location or whereabouts.
• Make sure that my calendars are private and not shared with anyone.
• Tell friends to get my permission before tagging me in any posts or pictures, before posting our location, or sharing a photo that I’m in.
• If someone posts nude images of me, or images that are made to look like me (i.e. someone photoshopped my face onto a naked image of someone else), I can report it to the police as a crime.
• I can use Facebook’s “Download Your Information” (DYI) feature, which can save all the activity on the site or on my page for later. 

For Your Information:

• On iPhones, I can click the sleep/wake button five times in a row and it will call 911 for me. Turn “Countdown Sound” off in: Settings > Emergency SOS to silence the emergency call countdown alarm.
• On Facebook, I can turn on “Timeline Review” to approve any tagged photos of me or posts to my timeline before they are posted on my page publicly.
• Turn off notifications on apps so that way they don’t pop up on my lock screen or home screen.
• In Find My Friends: Open the app. Tap Me and switch off Share My Location or slide left on a person's name to remove them.
• In Google Maps: Once you're in the app, tap the menu icon, then Location Sharing, then the contact you're sharing your location with, and switch off Share Your Location.

In Glympse: Once you're in the app, tap the triangle icon in the top right of the screen and then Stop Sharing.

• SAFETY OPTIONS AT SCHOOLIf I have shared with school staff that I am in an unsafe relationship, I can ask for the following support from my school: 
  • A place that provides a feeling of safety where I’m separated from my partner/ex-partner (Example: counselor's office, teacher’s classroom, nurses office, etc.)
  • Have any meetings that involve school staff separate from my partner/ex-partner (Example: principal/counselor meetings, scheduling meeting at different times, having different routes to get to and from the meeting, being escorted by a teacher/counselor/administrator/security guard to and from the meetings, etc.)
  • The school will alert campus security about my situation
  • Speak with a school counselor, therapist, or service provider outside of school (but during school hours, if my school allows this). Example: My local teen health clinic, LGBTQ+ resource center, DV agency, etc.
  • Get and make up course work I may have missed while getting support during school hours

  If my school is working with me to create a personal safety plan, the following are safety options I can request from my school:

  • Move my partner’s/ex-partner’s locker
  • Change or limit my partner’s/ex-partner’s routes to and from class and school
  • Get a restraining order and inform anyone at school who is in my Protected Party

  There may even be laws in my state that obligate my school to provide me with various options to increase my safety. For more information, I can visit: https://www.loveisrespect.org/resources/teen-dating-violence-laws/ to view my state’s laws in regards to dating abuse.

SAFETY OPTIONS ON CAMPUS

If I have shared with school staff that I am in an unsafe relationship, I can ask for the following support from my school: 

• A place that provides a feeling of safety where I’m separated from my partner/ex-partner (Example: counselor's office, teacher’s classroom, nurses office, etc.)
• Have any meetings that involve school staff separate from my partner/ex-partner (Example: principal/counselor meetings, scheduling meeting at different times, having different routes to get to and from the meeting, being escorted by a teacher/counselor/administrator/security guard to and from the meetings, etc.)
• The school will alert campus security about my situation
• Speak with a school counselor, therapist, or service provider outside of school (but during school hours, if my school allows this). Example: My local teen health clinic, LGBTQ+ resource center, DV agency, etc.
• Get and make-up course work I may have missed while getting support during school hours
• If I go out to a party, I can go somewhere that I am familiar with and have a sober driver who isn’t my partner/ex-partner.

If my school is working with me to create a personal safety plan, the following are safety options I can request from my school:

• Moving my partner’s/ex-partner’s locker
• Changing or limiting my partner’s/ex-partner’s routes to and from class and school
• I can meet with my school safety officers to plan the safest way for me to leave school in an emergency
• Getting a restraining order and making sure I inform anyone at school who is in my Protected Party

There may even be laws in my state that obligate my school to provide me with various options to increase my safety. For more information, I can visit: https://www.loveisrespect.org/resources/teen-dating-violence-laws/ to view my state’s laws in regards to dating abuse.

STAYING SAFE AT WORK/EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

I deserve to be safe at work and extracurricular activities like sports, music, dance, or any other after-school activity. Does my partner know my schedule or the location of my extracurriculars/work? The following are things I can consider to can increase my safety in these spaces.

• Tell a trusted person at my work/extracurricular about my safety concerns and create a safety plan if my partner/ex-partner were to show up or call.
• Make sure that someone (coach, manager at work, on-site security, etc.) knows what my partner’s/ex-partner’s name is, and a description of their appearance if I can’t provide them with a photo. 
• Provide my employer or coach with my emergency contact information 
• Ensure that my information is confidential (Example: If someone calls my job asking if I am currently at work, if I work there at all, or when I work none of my coworkers, employers, security guards, etc. will reveal this information. If someone asks my coach or teammates when our games are, if I am on the team or what time my game is, none of my teammates or coaches will reveal this information, etc.)
• Remind people to check-in with me first before sharing any photos of me or information about me on social media or online (Ex: team photo posted to Instagram, staff contact info on company website)
• Find out if there are working security cameras, emergency buttons, or alarms in the area  and ask for a tutorial for how to use them.
• Identify all exits and phones, including which are the safest for me to use. 
  • Create a specific safety plan if there is only one exit, or only one phone/no phones available to me. 
• Request a copy of my workplace’s policy on domestic violence and sexual assault. 
• Inform management if taking a late night or closing shift alone, etc. will compromise my safety.
  • If I have to take a late shift, I can ask my manager to schedule someone else to close with me. I can ask a coworker or manager to stay with me until my ride comes to pick me up, or until the bus shows up. 
• If traveling for an extracurricular activity, I can bring a trusted person with me. 
• I know that the safest way to get to and from my work/extracurricular activity: [list these for yourself!]

• If I need to leave my work/extracurricular activity in an emergency, I can get home safely by: