Coercive control & online abuse
Abuse is not always physical. Coercive control is a pattern of behaviour that makes someone feel scared, controlled, or cut off — over time, it wears you down. It is a serious form of family and domestic violence.
What coercive control can look like
Controlling your money, Centrelink, or what you can buy.
Cutting you off from family, friends, community or culture.
Checking your phone, messages, or where you go.
Putting you down, blaming you, or making threats.
Making you feel like you are "walking on eggshells".
In NSW, coercive control of a current or former intimate partner can now be a criminal offence. Free legal services below can explain what this means for your situation — you do not have to work it out alone.
Abuse using technology
Sometimes control happens through phones and online — this is real abuse too:
Tracking your location or reading your accounts.
Constant calls or messages, or threats online.
Sharing, or threatening to share, private images.
eSafety Commissioner
Online safetyHelp with online abuse and image-based abuse — including getting images taken down.
Free, culturally safe help
4 servicesIt is not your fault, and you are not alone.
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