Own My Life helps inspire new domestic abuse support for Thames Valley Police

Female officer: back to camera

Domestic abusers are everywhere and those they harm work in all arenas of life; including the people whose professional lives are dedicated to responding to the harm these abusers cause. That is the message behind Empower, a new support project for police officers and staff subjected to domestic abuse within Thames Valley Police.

The initiative offers peer support, practical advice, wellbeing support and access to specialist services, working alongside Hope After Harm. Crucially, it has grown out of an internal 12-week Own My Life course delivered for Thames Valley Police personnel, as reported in THIS LBC article.

At the heart of this development is Jacquie Collins, a brilliant Own My Life facilitator who has pioneered the course in this context. Working in Domestic Abuse Offender Management, Jacquie helped establish Empower with women from Own My Life after seeing the difference that a dedicated space for police personnel could make.

As Jacquie told LBC:

“Everybody thinks we’re superhuman and don’t have the same experiences as everybody else. It has been quite a taboo, and I think we need to be educating and asking and telling victims that it’s okay to come forward and speak out. We’re not immune. We are the same as everyone else, and we do experience domestic abuse.”

The need for specialist, trusted support is clear. For police personnel, seeking help can be particularly complicated when the agencies they might normally signpost women towards are also part of their professional world. As Thames Valley officer Skye Feasey explained to LCB, being both a police officer and subjected to abuse can mean navigating the system while simultaneously working within it.

Empower creates something different: a community of colleagues who understand the realities of policing as well as the reality of being subjected to abuse by a partner. The group is already supporting its second Own My Life cohort, with participants describing how important it is to feel understood by people who know the pressures and demands of their roles. We celebrate all of those involved in enabling this transformative support to be available in the force; those delivering the support and those in senior leadership who have enabled the establishment and resourcing of both Own My Life and the Empower Project.

We are delighted to see Own My Life acting as a catalyst for this kind of organised and transformative change for women in policing.

Seeing Own My Life delivered within the Metropolitan Police has shown us just how powerful this can be. For women police personnel who have attended Own My Life, the course enables participants to make sense of their lives in relation to the abuse they have been subjected to, we have also seen how the Own My Life sisterhood can support women to remain in the force, pursue promotion and advocate for better outcomes for women reporting abuse to the police.

This is why we are so excited about the growing interest from police forces across the country. Following recent funding from Amazon to support training for police forces, more forces are training their own staff to deliver Own My Life internally for police personnel.

Thames Valley's Empower project is an inspiring example of what can happen when Own My Life creates the space for people to recognise their own experiences, and then turn that learning into lasting organisational change.

As Jacquie puts it, police personnel are “not immune”. They are, like everyone else, entitled to safety, dignity and support.

And when women are supported not only to survive the abusers harm, but to understand what he has done (to them and any children they may have) and remain empowered within their careers, the impact can reach far beyond the individual. It can help transform the culture of the organisations they work in – and ultimately strengthen the response to domestic abuse for everyone.

To learn more about the impact of Own My Life for female police personnel, you can watch our short video clips HERE. For police forces interested in brining Own My Life to your area, please email us: info@ownmylifecourse.org.