Get Help

Always call the police if you are in danger and need help, and seek medical attention for injuries.

How Thrive Can Help You

Thrive’s service area extends out from York and Adams counties in Pennsylvania to include Hanover, McSherrystown, Littlestown, New Oxford, East Berlin, Hampton, Biglerville, Bonneauville, Gettysburg, Chambersburg, Lemoyne, Spring Grove, York, Dover, Glen Rock, and Manchester.

We offer support groups that meet every other Thursday from 6:30 - 8:00 PM in Hanover. If you are a victim interested in attending, click here to contact us for details.

Contact us by phone or text: 717-640-2951

24 Hour Hotline for Crisis Response

Safe Home, Hanover PA can assist with:

  • Emergency safe housing and referrals to local shelters

  • Legal advocacy, including assistance with filing protection orders

Quick Facts About Domestic Violence

  • Domestic violence victims may suffer from one or more of the following types of abuse: physical, emotional, sexual, financial, and technological.

  • Domestic violence may include threats, harassment, intimidation, unlawful restraint or stalking.

  • Domestic violence may involve family members or couples (whether married, separated, divorced, or single).

  • Domestic violence includes dating violence, even if the victim is no longer dating the perpetrator.

  • Domestic violence victims are of all ages, gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, class, religion, and so on.

Signs of An Abusive Partner

Domestic violence encompasses a spectrum of behaviors that abusers use to control victims. The following list includes warning signs that someone may be abusive. If you or a friend experience these behaviors from a partner, remember: it is not your fault and there are advocates waiting to help.

“Red flags” include someone who:

  • Wants to move too quickly into the relationship.

  • Early in the relationship flatters you constantly, and seems “too good to be true.”

  • Wants you all to him- or herself; insists that you stop spending time with your friends or family.

  • Insists that you stop participating in hobbies or activities, quit school, or quit your job.

  • Does not honor your boundaries.

  • Is excessively jealous and accuses you of being unfaithful.

  • Wants to know where you are all of the time and frequently calls, emails, and texts you throughout the day.

  • Criticizes or puts you down; says you are crazy, stupid, and/or fat/unattractive, or that no one else would ever want or love you.

  • Takes no responsibility for his or her behavior and blames others.

  • Has a history of abusing others.

  • Blames the entire failure of previous relationships on his or her former partner; for example, “My ex was totally crazy.”

  • Takes your money or runs up your credit card debt.

  • Rages out of control with you but can maintain composure around others.

Abuse is never the fault of the victim and it can be hard for many reasons, including safety, to end the relationship. If you experience these “red flags,” you can confide in a friend or reach out for support from a domestic violence advocate. If you believe a friend or relative is being abused, offer your nonjudgmental support and help.

The most common abusive behaviors or tactics identified by the Domestic Abuse Intervention project are listed in the wheel:

The Wheel is a way of visually representing the tactics typically used by men who batter. By batter we mean the ongoing pattern of violence, coercion and abuse in an intimate relationship. It was developed out of the experiences of women who were battered and attending support and educational groups in the working-class town of Duluth, Minnesota. Focus groups documented the experiences of women in heterosexual relationships. Over the weeks the designers revised and adjusted the graphic until the groups of women were satisfied the wheel captured their experience of living with a man who batters.The tactics do not in and of themselves constitute battering. Battering involves the patterned and intentional use of these tactics to control the victim’s autonomy and deny her a life free of fear and intimidation.