Jewish Women's Aid has launched a Community Toolkit in advance of our upcoming national and cross-communal Shabbat on 12/13 November. Available at jwa.org.uk/toolkit, the resources have been created to raise awareness and understanding in the Jewish community about domestic abuse and sexual violence, and to encourage discussion, questions and change.

The Toolkit contains:

- An article by our CEO, Naomi Dickson, which communities can use in their publications before the Shabbat

- Video tutorial giving an overview of domestic abuse and sexual violence in our community

- Conversation starter cards for families and adults

- A case study of a Jewish woman who we supported during the Covid-19 pandemic

- 7 fact sheets, including signs of abuse, types of abuse, how to make a difference and quotes from our community leaders

These free resources can be used in lots of different settings: with your family and friends informally, at shul, at work, in your educational setting, or any other community space. Even sharing the resources on your social media accounts helps drive the anti-abuse message. The main point is to increase knowledge and open up the conversation in our community.

Naomi Dickson said, “We need to do more to make our community safer for women and much of that task is breaking the taboo around domestic abuse and sexual violence. If we talk about it, and the fact that it happens in our community just like any other, then we help create spaces where harming women, either physically or emotionally, is unacceptable and women feel supported. We hope that by providing these resources, we can encourage more of these conversations, especially on 12-13 November.”

Jewish Women’s Aid Shabbat is supported by the Office of the Chief Rabbi, United Synagogue, Reform Judaism, Liberal Judaism, Masorti Judaism, S&P Sephardi Community, Jewish Leadership Council and the Board of Deputies.

In the ‘Domestic Abuse In Numbers’ fact sheet, a snapshot is provided of the support Jewish Women's Aid provided women and girls over 6 months from April to September 2021:

301 - Jewish women and girls (clients) supported by Jewish Women’s Aid

58 - Clients who had experienced sexual violence

42 - Clients who were aged 14 to 30 years old

72 - Clients who received counselling at Jewish Women’s Aid

125 - Calls made to the Jewish Women’s Aid Domestic Abuse Helpline

8 - Referrals we made to statutory bodies of high risk or vulnerable clients and their children

8 - Clients we supported by providing a McKenzie Friend to accompany them to court

245 - Children linked to the women we supported

23 - Children provided with 1:1 specialist therapy