LOOK FOR THE CONNECTIONS
Which areas do you notice?
Select any areas you want to consider, then compare with a worked explanation. More than one lens can be useful.
AN INTERACTIVE LEARNING SPACE
The relationship ended.
The control may continue.
Explore post-separation abuse: how parenting, money, communication, and systems can become connected routes for continued control.
01 / EXPLORE THE TACTICS
Different tactics.
Connected effects.
Selected area
Categories overlap. The wheel is a learning map, not a checklist or measure of severity.
FROM INDIVIDUAL ACTS TO A WIDER PATTERN
The question is what happens to choice.
A request, a shared decision, and pressured compliance may look similar from a distance. Context helps explain the difference.
GUIDED LEARNING / PATTERN LAB
Zoom out.
Connect the behaviors.
Follow a fictional situation from a single moment to its wider context. Notice how different tactics can serve the same controlling outcome.
These examples illustrate patterns; they do not determine whether a particular relationship meets a legal definition. You do not need to test a boundary or provoke a response to understand your experience.
FOUNDATIONS & RESOURCES
Keep autonomy
at the center.
Post-separation abuse is a pattern of continued control or intimidation by a former intimate partner. Tactics can change after separation and may involve shared children, resources, systems, or other people. Children are not required for post-separation abuse to occur.
Context matters. Harm still matters.
A disagreement, a single request, or a difficult interaction does not by itself establish coercive control. Look at repetition, access to resources, consequences for refusal, and whose options are narrowing. Physical violence is not required for a controlling pattern to exist.
A single assault, threat, or act of sexual violence can still be serious. No one has to experience every tactic, show a particular reaction, or reach a threshold on this map to deserve support. Responsibility for abuse belongs to the person choosing to cause harm.
EXPLORE FURTHER
Sources for continued learning
The learning framework draws on research and specialist educational resources. The examples and category connections are original illustrations for this explorer. External links open a new tab.
Education, with care. This tool provides educational information, not legal advice, diagnosis, a risk assessment, or a determination of abuse. Legal definitions and obligations vary by location. Do not use this tool to decide whether to disregard a court order.