IMPACT works with many employers who are concerned about employee safety – whether it is because employees often work late hours and/or alone, work in high-crime areas, or work with abusive or volatile clients/customers. Learning personal safety and self-defense techniques addresses the questions that can create burnout, like, “Is it worth the risks I have to take to do this work?” or, “What can I do if this client escalates and I am in danger?”
We know fear for one’s own safety is typically the biggest barrier to helping and that an adrenaline response in reaction to anger or fear is a major barrier to good communication. The point of learning physical strategies to defend oneself is not actually to use them, but to answer “what if?” questions as well as create confidence that translates to more effective body language and tone.
Options Include:
•Personal Safety 101 Seminar
Personal Safety 101 teaches what an assailant is looking for and how to avoid being that target by teaching awareness skills, body language, and using one’s voice to prevent or stop an assault. We address how our socialization and media images affect how we react in threatening or dangerous situations. Participants have an opportunity to question safety information they have received in the past to discover whether it is relevant or effective. We show a video of our courses so that people can see what we do in our experiential classes, but also so that students can see someone who looks like them (size, gender, age, etc.) talking their way out of a bad situation/defending/taking care of themselves. People can’t do what they don’t believe is possible, so it’s important to shift those expectations.
And/Or:
•4-12-Hour Experiential Verbal & Physical Personal Safety Workshop
Skills taught in the class are practiced in realistic role-plays. Participants learn adrenaline management, their own strength, awareness & avoidance skills, verbal de-escalation and dissuasion techniques, in addition to physical self-defense skills for a face-to-face confrontation, and, with more time, for predatory attacks (attacks from behind.)
