Between Friends

Building a Community Without Domestic Violence

Between Friends is a nonprofit agency dedicated to breaking the cycle of domestic violence and building a community free of abuse.

In 1986, Between Friends was founded by volunteers from the National Council of Jewish Women and the North Shore Junior League of Evanston as a small grantmaking body dedicated to raising funds for local domestic violence programs. The clear disparity between the growing numbers of domestic violence victims needing help and the limited programs available to assist them prompted Friends to expand its effort in 1991 to include direct crisis intervention services for individuals and families.

Today, Between Friends' comprehensive programs and services include a toll-free Crisis Line (800-603-HELP), counseling for victims and their children, court advocacy, and prevention and education efforts, including healthcare education and our extensive teen dating violence prevention program, REACH (Relationship Education: A Choice for Hope). Each year, we work with thousands of individuals through these programs, all offered free of charge. Friends' offices are located in Rogers Park, on Chicago's north side.

Between Friends provides a safe, violence-free, supportive, self-help environment for women and children in crisis. Between Friends' counselors support women in making their own decisions and choices, rather than making choices for them. Between Friends helps victims and children to recognize that their experience is shared and that the problem of domestic violence is social and political.

Know that abuse is a crime.

· Physical Abuse is any forceful or violent physical behavior.

· Sexual Abuse is any non-consenting sexual act or behavior.

· Verbal or Emotional Abuse includes hurting another person's feeling by saying cruel, unfair comments or by name-calling.

· Psychological Abuse is a threat to do bodily harm to a partner, child, family member, friends, pets or one's self (suicide). Psychological abuse involves hurt, anger, fear and degradation. Psychological abuse can render you emotionally insecure about your own self worth and can make you helpless to escape further physical, sexual and/or psychological abuse.

· Economic Abuse includes controlling an intimate partner’s access to money through behaviors such as preventing a partner from going to work or causing a woman to lose her job.

If you feel that you or someone you know may be in an abusive relationship, read more about the signs of abuse.

Click here to learn about the programs and services we provide.