J9 Initiative What is J9? The J9 Domestic Abuse Initiative aims to raise awareness of domestic abuse and assist survivors to access support safely by training professionals and members of the community to recognise domestic abuse and respond to survivors. Once J9 trained, the J9 logo is displayed, letting survivors know that they have a safe place to access information and use a telephone to contact support services. So many survivors say that they never got the chance to tell someone because it wasn't safe. It's not always easy to know who to contact, where to go and what your options are. Coercive control is a factor in many abusive relationships and perpetrators of abuse will actively shut down opportunities for survivors to access support. J9 opens those doors to support and creates a network of safe places for survivors to speak out and get help. Safer Places' J9 initiative was highlighted for good practice in the Government Consultation 'Transforming the Response to Domestic Abuse'. The J9 Domestic Abuse Initiative is named in memory of Janine Mundy, a mother of two who was killed by her estranged husband whilst he was on Police bail. Janine used to sign her text messages J9, hence its name. The initiative was started by her family and the local police in Cambourne, Cornwall, where she lived and taken up by Epping Community Safety Partnership. We are very grateful for their continued support as we continue to run the initiative with the aim of creating more and more safe places for survivors to access support. J9 Training Safer Places are the provider of J9 training, intended to raise awareness and increase knowledge and understanding of domestic abuse for staff in public and voluntary sector organisations and members of the community dealing with the public. The training aims to ensure that learners are equipped to respond appropriately and effectively to survivors of abuse and more survivors are able to access support. To date we have trained over 3,000 professionals. From Job Centre's, GP's, local authorities and police volunteers to veterinary services, hairdressers and even the Barbican theatre, survivors have thousands of individuals ready to listen and help. Everyone that has participated in our training has given extremely positive feedback. "Rarely do we have training where the response and feedback is so genuinely enthusiastic. Thank you so much for making it so very worthwhile. As you can see it has already enabled us to help people and with the national details provided it will hopefully reach far wider" "Excellent training and resource to take away" "I attended the J9 training session and wow what an eye opener. I left the room with so many different emotions. i had a lump in my throat and a fire in m heart pledging to myself that I would be vigilant and get help to those who needed it" How Does J9 Work? Once delegates have attended the training, they will display the J9 logo in some way for example with a sticker on their office door, a lanyard or a badge or a digital logo on websites or social media channels. Where the J9 logo is displayed it alerts victims that they can obtain information which will help them to access a safe place where they can seek information and the use of a telephone. Participants also receive a domestic abuse information pack, which can be used to signpost victims to specialist organisations offering additional support. The pack has a lot of information to aid victims in understanding their rights and accessing hep and support. The J9 Network All participants of the J9 training become part of the Safer Places J9 network. The purpose of the network is to provide an opportunity to share information and stay up to date on emerging domestic abuse issues and access ongoing support when handling disclosures of abuse.