What do you do when someone tells you they are being assaulted/harassed? This answer has two parts:
When they are still in the midst of assault, it can be hard to help them out. But here are a few things you can do:
Sometimes the most you can offer is a sympathetic ear. But this is far more valuable than you would think. So if someone wants to confide in you, listen. Don't offer solutions — they are already hearing a lot of those. Offer validation instead. Lots of people will be making them feel insane right about now and it helps to have someone rooting for you.
If you work with this person, there is a lot more you can do — you can redirect their abusers attention when they are around.
You can also help them by simply showing up when they are stuck alone with their abuser. That way the abuser can't do something terrible without any witnesses present.
It helps to keep a note of all the different things you notice. At the very least, this can count as circumstantial evidence. At it's best it can be all the proof your friend needs to be taken seriously.
If you hold a position of power, you may be able to approach the abuser for the victim. This is hard and risky and you need the victim on board. So this will require a strong judgement call on your part.
A Champion often holds a powerful role within the company. When everything goes south, they will advocate for you both as a person and an employee. If you chose to continue working at the company, it is likely that they will be able to help you the most while dealing with retaliation or any coverups about why you may have gone missing.
This is easy:
Behave exactly as you did before anything happened. If your friendship was based on insults, go back to that. If you used to be a professional advocate for this person, continue with it. No one likes pity.
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