Alex's Answer
I need to leave my home
Your Question
I need to leave my house, my mam has gone mad. She is screaming at me and trying to hit me. She nearly crashed the car when I was with her. My dad is not here at the moment and I feel really unsafe. I have text my friends to see if they can meet up, but they haven’t gotten back. I don’t know what to do.Â
Answer
Hi there,Â
Thank you for getting in touch with us here at Ask Alex. It sounds like you were in a situation with your mam where you felt unsafe and needed to get away from your house. We would be worried to hear that was happening for you, and that you feel unsafe around your mam.Â
Has anything like this ever happened with your mam before? Whether this was the first time or something like this has happened in the past, it’s not okay for anyone to treat you like that and make you feel unsafe. It sounds like you already know that this isn’t okay. You reached out to your friends to see if you could meet them to take yourself out of the situation, but you havn’t heard back from them yet. You sound like a very mature person who is able to think of ways to try and keep yourself safe. Have you been able to share with your friends what was happening with your mam? It’s important to have people in our lives that we can talk to, in good and bad times.Â
You mentioned your dad wasn’t there when this was happening. What would it be like to talk to your dad about it? Maybe he could be someone to speak to, and to help you get help and support with what happened. He may be someone that could have a conversation with your mam to illustrate the impact her behaviour has on you, and to talk about how you can keep yourself safe. As we don’t know all the details, we aren’t sure if there is anyone else living at home with you who might also be able to support you and ensure you feel safe at home.Â
You could have a look at the Changing Futures website, which gives you some information on your safety and your rights. It also tells how to get in touch with Túsla if you would like help: changingfutures.ie/ We try to answer questions as quickly as we can here, but there may be a little delay in our responses. If you feel like you are in immediate danger, we’d encourage you to contact the GardaÃ/emergency services on 999 or 112 for an instant response.Â
If you’d like to talk about what’s happening some more, in a safe confidential space, our Childline live services are here for you 24/7, every day of the year. We have a Live Chat service and a phone service (1800 66 66 66) and you can share as little or as much as you want to. We’d love to hear from you anytime.Â
Take care of yourself and do hesitate to get in touch if you need support,
AlexÂ