Or if you just don't like your roommate, but can't afford to live on your own or move out.
I’m the trustee of a regional women’s shelter; we run a small building of 8 apartments which we offer to women and children as short-medium term refuges at no cost.
The people who arrive with us are experiencing trauma past breaking point (often abuse is normalised and needs to be significantly escalated until someone is willing to take flight), with symptoms of PTSD, depression, and often significant physical injuries. Children absorb this abuse in a similar manner, without any means to process the trauma.
Organisations like our face an extremely uncertain future; while the need for what we do remains, and probably increases, many women are unable to move or scared to due to the government advice on travel. This is against the backdrop of being unable to procure supplies; we provide our residents with everything from food to nappies, all donated or bought from cash donations.
I appreciate that living with a difficult roommate is a testing circumstance. But domestic abuse is truly a different level of horror.
I had a a friend bullied to suicide by their mother but there was just no support for someone who wasn't physically abused by a man in the 00s.
Should someone present at almost any shelter now their case will be assessed on whether violence occurred rather than gender.
My organisation is in the UK, so I can’t speak for elsewhere.
I’m sorry to hear about your friend, and for your loss. DV is truly horrible in all circumstances, and the effects ripple through many people.
Domestic abuse does not begin and end with violence.
My friend was never physically hurt, yet he was still tortured enough to kill himself.
https://www.thehotline.org/is-this-abuse/abuse-defined/
> Domestic violence includes behaviors that physically harm, arouse fear, prevent a partner from doing what they wish or force them to behave in ways they do not want. It includes the use of physical and sexual violence, threats and intimidation, emotional abuse and economic deprivation.
https://www.npr.org/2017/07/15/537381161/more-domestic-viole...
Trust me, there are very tough situations that you haven't seen or you wouldn't say that.
Fortunately domestic abuse has some legal status. But falling with a mentally deranged person in a shared condo is dangerous and more usual than you think.