Update: Thanks everyone. She’s decided to stay the week for now, which is big, so we’re just taking it day by day atm.

*Trigger warning, domestic abuse*

My SIL got married a few years back. Her husband is now an alcoholic and gotten into some hard drugs and has become unpredictable and threatening to hurt her. Long story short, she called my husband and I at 10:00 pm two nights ago in distress and wasn’t feeling safe with him so we flew her out that night to be with us (1 hour flight). As she’s processing everything, she’s wanting to go back home to the situation she’s in, mostly out of fear of being alone. We’ve talked with her and given her our advice and opinions, but have told her that ultimately it’s her decision to go back or not. We know it is not the safe decision for her to go back.

I guess my question is, how do you talk to someone in a situation like this? She is so terrified of being alone and is so desperate to be loved, she’s willing to go back to the abuse. If you were/have been in this situation, what was it that you would have wanted/needed to hear in order to get out? We want to help and are able to help, but we can’t force her or make her decisions for her.