Imagine that you’re sitting in your doctor’s office when you see a poster about intimate partner violence. It’s like one of those hand-washing signs you see in restaurant bathrooms, and you realize, you’ve been seeing it a lot lately: in your workplace, in the classroom at your child’s school, at your place of worship.

The poster invites you to speak confidentially with someone that you can trust if you believe you or someone you know may be a victim of intimate partner violence.

Imagine, now, that everyone on staff, from the doctors and nurses to the receptionist and the assistant who shows you to the treatment room, knows exactly what to say. Imagine that you can trust this is a private conversation—that it’s between us.

Imagine that, with your permission, they can connect you—through a swipe of their phone—to other people and organizations who can help you when you’re ready, from law enforcement to safety and support services to child care and protection.

Imagine that, behind the scenes, organizations come together to share learnings and align systems in order to provide streamlined, coordinated efforts and maximum impact.

Imagine that individuals, like yourself, your family, your neighbors, your co-workers, people you worship with, the lady that says hello to you every time you frequent your grocery store, your children—each person you are connected to is educated about intimate partner violence and safe, healthy relationships.

Imagine that in a world with such widespread knowledge and infrastructure around intimate partner violence prevention, the rate of intimate partner violence—which affects 1 in 3 women, 1 in 7 men, and 1 in 4 children—begins to plummet.

Imagine that in a world with such widespread knowledge and infrastructure around intimate partner violence prevention, the rate of intimate partner violence—which affects 1 in 3 women, 1 in 4 men, and 1 in 15 children—begins to plummet.

Creating change at this scale takes people from all walks of life coming together to insist it’s time to do things differently—to stop accepting intimate partner violence as an ugly but inevitable part of life; to break the silence; and to create a safer world for generations to come.