a quiet library
Learn the language.
Short, trauma-informed primers on the patterns and tactics that survivors most often want named. Each one links to the deeper guidance inside the Sister Signal app.
when reality keeps shifting
Gaslighting
A pattern of denying your reality so consistently that you start to distrust your own memory, instincts, and emotions.
Readwhen raising a concern becomes the crime
DARVO
Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender — a four-step move that turns the person who was hurt into the one being accused.
Readthe slow narrowing of a life
Coercive control
A pattern of behaviour that, in aggregate, makes a person feel monitored, dependent, isolated, or afraid — even without physical violence.
Readwhy leaving feels impossible
Trauma bonding
A strong emotional attachment to a person who is harming you, formed through cycles of cruelty and reconciliation.
Readwhen fast feels like fate
Love bombing
An intense, fast-moving idealisation phase at the start of a relationship — gifts, attention, declarations — designed to create dependence quickly.
Readthe pattern that explains the chaos
The cycle of abuse
Four phases that often repeat: tension building → incident → reconciliation → calm. Recognising the cycle is often the first step toward clarity.
Readnaming the tactics
The Power & Control Wheel
A framework developed in Duluth, Minnesota in 1984 to map the tactics used to maintain control in abusive relationships.
Read