If you are in immediate danger: call 911.
National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233 (or text START to 88788) — free, confidential, 24/7. They will safety-plan with you and connect you to local help.
Crisis or thoughts of suicide: call or text 988.
01 · The short honest answer
If you’re in immediate danger, call 911. For domestic violence specifically, the National Domestic Violence Hotline — 1-800-799-7233, or text START to 88788 — is free, confidential, and available 24/7; they’ll safety-plan with you and connect you to local help.
Locally, the Family Guidance Center is Catawba County’s domestic-violence and crisis organization (safety planning, protective orders, shelter). You don’t have to leave to reach out — they’ll help you think it through, at your pace.
02 · What we can see for your situation
Honest local context, so your plan is realistic: Catawba’s only domestic-violence shelter nearly closed in 2024 due to funding, so the local net is real but fragile — which is exactly why the national hotline and the Family Guidance Center together matter; one can route around the other.
A protective order goes through the courthouse in Newton, and Legal Aid of NC can help you file. Safety-plan assuming you may need options beyond a single local shelter — the hotline does this every day.
03 · A calm next step (not a command)
In danger now: 911. Not in immediate danger but not safe: call the Family Guidance Center or the national DV hotline (1-800-799-7233) — they safety-plan with you, no pressure to leave today. Need a protective order: the courthouse in Newton + Legal Aid of NC. Worried about someone else: the hotline coaches you on how to help without making it more dangerous. This is the one place the next step is genuinely urgent — please reach out.
04 · Go deeper
Why this matters. Leaving (or deciding not to yet) is the most dangerous time in an abusive situation, which is why safety planning with trained people matters more than any single resource. The hotline exists precisely so no one has to figure this out alone or all at once.
Learn more. National DV Hotline 1-800-799-7233 / text START to 88788 · Family Guidance Center (Catawba) · protective orders via the courthouse + Legal Aid of NC
Read more. Why a county’s only DV shelter nearly closing is a systemic fragility — and what stable funding / a care cooperative could protect
These doors are for you
Call the hotline — they plan with you. Free, confidential, 24/7. You don’t have to have decided anything.
- Immediate danger: 911
- DV hotline: 1-800-799-7233 (or text START to 88788)
- Local: the Family Guidance Center
Your safety doors.
- Right now, in danger: 911
- Safety planning + local help: Family Guidance Center · national DV hotline
- Protective order: courthouse (Newton) + Legal Aid of NC
The legal + housing pieces. Safety often needs a legal and a housing move alongside it.
- Protective order / legal: Legal Aid of NC
- Somewhere safe to go: the hotline routes shelter (local net is thin — plan for options)
Where this answer stands
We can cite: Family Guidance Center is Catawba County’s domestic-violence / crisis organization · Catawba’s only DV shelter nearly closed in 2024 due to funding — the local net is fragile · The courthouse is in Newton (county seat)
We’re inferring: That Legal Aid of NC assists with protective orders (standard Legal Aid service) · That the national DV hotline can route to current local options better than a static list
Still open: Family Guidance Center’s live capacity and intake right now — call them or the national hotline to confirm
*This is a thinking partner, not an authority. It surfaces what’s here, names what it can’t see, and leaves every decision to you.* [Get help — free](/help/) · [What is this?](/about/)