Educate. Equip. Empower
Our Mission
To provide educational opportunities for men, women, and children, and empower them to create a safer environment
AAI focuses on women and children, and the common safety concerns that they are confronted with day to day such as abduction, sexual assault, and human trafficking.
JDTG focuses on providing any individual tools and skills to mitigate potentially violent encounters, as well a build a personal responsibility to keep not only yourself, but those around you safe.
Why we do it
Our primary focus is the 4 risks of personal safety, risk awareness- alert minded, risk reduction, removing the opportunity, risk recognition and avoiding those risks.
Students will learn to trust their personal perceptions using their “gift of fear”, becoming aware of the risks that surround them in their daily life. Making wise choices to reduce those risks, and recognizing when they are in an ‘at risk’ situation. We will help them avoid these situations whenever possible, but when they are presented the individual will be more equipped to get off the ‘X’.
As students become more comfortable with the tactics, their confidence will grow. They will have developed muscle memory, so in the case of an attack their reactions will be more effective. We will walk through the “what if’s…” by focusing on positive mindset.
Attendees will begin to develop a plan of action in their personal surroundings creating a safer environment for themselves and their families.
The average window to defend against an assault is 3-5 seconds.
87% of survivors resisted sexual assault or rape.
Who We Are
Danielle Dean, M.A. has taught defensive tactics for almost 15 years. She along with Austin Johnson started Abduction Awareness Initiative, LLC Dba Joint Defense Tactical Group to change the mindset of potential victims of violence to one that believes they can not only survive but win a violent encounter. Danielle has contracted with the State Department as a full time instructor for 3 years, and traveled globally teaching defense tactics. She has been a Chaplin for the Fauquier County Sheriff’s Office since 2020.
She has her B.A. in Criminal Justice, graduated from Liberty University with a Master’s Degree in Crisis and Trauma Counseling and is scheduled to graduate with her doctorate in Education and Leadership in May 2023.
Austin Johnson is the lead trainer for Abduction Awareness Initiative Dba Joint Defense Tactical Group. A US Army Veteran, Austin specializes in Hand-to-Hand Combat, Weapons Training and Defense Tactics. He teaches students to defend themselves in violent encounters through semi-live scenarios and instructs them in situational awareness. With over 15 years experience in Crazy Monkey Boxing, Krav Maga, Kali, BJJ and Muay Thai, Austin brings a contagious passion and breadth of knowledge to the class.