Is this emotionally abusive, and can I leave?...

[Unregistered]

I'm a 15 year old, but my grandparents have been treating me terribly. They're emotionally abusing me, and I'm afraid that I'm going to do something and get yelled at or beaten..
I also live in a room, that doesn't have windows, which last I knew was illegal.
I'm starting to become suicidal, but the thoughts that my aunts and uncles went through this keeps me from leaving. I don't want to be thought of as weak, or get talked about in the family.. I need out of here, I'm emotionally drained...

[ccsmod8]

RE: Is this emotionally abusive, and can I leave?...

Hello there –

Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to reach out to us here at the National Runaway Safeline. From your post to us here on our public bulletin board, we can see that you have very similar questions to a lot of our callers and you’re looking for some answers. It seems like there must be a lot going on in your life and at home right now that your considering leaving your home and hurting yourself. Sounds like there are some big issues that you're going through, namely the abuse that you’re getting from your grandparents. We are here to help you in any way that we can. No one deserves to be treated that. If you feel that you are in danger of being hurt, please remember to reach out to the police. They can come and check on you to make sure that you’re okay. You also have to right to report anything that has been happening to your local child protective services. If you don’t feel comfortable with filing a report, you can always call us anytime you want. There is always someone here to help you. It also might help if you were to remember specific events that have happened and/or any pictures of the physical abuse that you might have to send in as well.

Dealing with those suicidal thoughts and feelings can be very difficult. It is very brave of you to admit something like that about yourself and it shows that you are smart and mature to recognize those feelings. If you do have thoughts about hurting yourself, or of suicide, please know you can call the National Suicide Hotline at 1800-237-TALK. This is a hotline that you can call for support when you are feeling like you can’t do it anymore. They also have a website that you can visit (www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org). They have a chat service on there and you can chat with them instead of calling their hotline.

It sounds like you have been thinking about leaving for quite some time now though. What would your overall plan be (i.e housing options, transposition, financial stability, school options, access to food/clothes, etc)? What do you think your family would do if you were to leave your house and run away to someplace else?

You have also stated that you feel that your grandparents don’t seem to understand that the stress that they put on you is becoming a little overwhelming. Have you tried talking to them about what has been going on with you and your feelings? If you don’t feel like that is something you feel comfortable with doing, we can surely try to help you with that communication with you and your family. We offer a service that is basically a Conference Call where your grandparents, yourself, and us would be on the phone talking about what has been going on. This way there can be a mediator in between keeping things calm and productive. How do you feel about that?