TDLR: friend has to deal with emotionally abusive dad and feels like she can’t leave. How can I help as a long distance friend?
My friend and I are both 22 and attend university together. We’ve both gone home to our families for Christmas in different parts of the country - me being south her being north.
I’ve known she’s had trouble with her family, pretty much all her life, but it seems to be going particularly bad atm - she’s being calling me crying/texting everyday about her dad.
Behaviours include Dad talking about my friend behind her back, manipulating discussions between them to her mum, being generally angry over small things, refusing to accept apologies from her (even though he’s more in the wrong for being the adult), threatening her to not tell her friends about how he’s acting
Basically, shes not happy being at home at all and her mum isn’t really supporting her either - the mum leaves whenever they argue (which is more my friend defending herself against an angry shouty man) and wants her to take the high road so they can move on and enjoy Christmas.
My friend wants to go back to uni asap, but feels she cannot leave until the agreed date on Jan because she’s worried they’ll think she’s being dramatic, and the dad will just take it out on her mum.
As her friend I feel terrible I can’t do more to help. She doesn’t deserve the treatment she’s getting and even know I would just up and leave I can’t force her to do that.
Is there anything I can say or suggest to help my friend during this Christmas period?
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