(Women’s or Mixed-Gender)
The 20-hour Basics Course is IMPACT’s most comprehensive personal safety class. Participants learn street-smart behaviors, and awareness and avoidance skills to help them avoid being targeted for assault. The program covers psychological strategy and mental readiness in a safe, supportive environment. Students learn and practice effective verbal de-escalation strategies to prevent assault. Students are taught easy-to-learn and effective physical self-defense skills for face-to-face confrontations, 
attacks from behind, attacks that go down to the ground or start off in a bed. Students analyze aspects of healthy and unhealthy relationships and practice setting boundaries with people in their everyday lives.
All skills are practiced in recreated common assault scenarios allowing students to respond appropriately to dangerous or stressful situations in a controlled environment. In the scenarios, one instructor (the “Whistle”) coaches the student verbally and physically while another instructor (the “Suit”) acts as would-be-assailant, helping students experience and manage adrenaline. The Suited instructor wears protective padded 
armor, so physical skills are learned through full contact practice. For more details about how the class works, go to the How Experiential Works page.
The 20-hour Basics Course includes with a graduation and demonstration of the skills the graduates have learned. 
Students in Basics will have a final day of class, several weeks after the 20-Hour training, called “The Closing Circle.” This is an opportunity to process what our lives are like as more empowered people and the challenges of implementing boundary settings in our everyday lives.
In this Course, you will learn to:
- Avoid potentially dangerous situations (awareness and avoidance skills)
- Recognize when your boundaries are being crossed (interpersonal awareness)
- Talk your way out of an assault (verbal dissuasion techniques)
- Defend yourself when faced with physical violence (physical self-defense)
- Set boundaries with people you know (communication skills)
20-Hour graduates report feeling:
- Peace of mind from having practical and effective skills to defend themselves
- Greater self-confidence and self-worth
- A sense of freedom to use their voices, pursue their dreams, and reach their potential
Click to read Testimonials. There are also Success Stories from Graduates, and a Women’s Basics Class Video.
This course is taught to women, men, or mixed-gender groups. 
Suitable for adults and teens ages 13 and older. Please note that the 4-Hour Introductory Workshop is NOT a prerequisite for the Basics Course.
The cost is $450 for adults and $225 for teens who receive an automatic scholarship through Marissa’s Scholarship Fund. $225 for re-takers. Early sign-up and buddy discounts available. Payment plans available. See below for more information. Call our office for group rates.
Marissa’s Scholarship Fund Information
Marisa’s Scholarship Fund enables us to give generous scholarships to those adults, teens and children who need assistance. Need-based scholarships are available to a limited number of participants per class, depending on availability of scholarship funds. Click to download the Scholarship Application or contact us for a paper copy. As it can take 1-3 weeks to review your application, please submit the application as early as possible before the class you wish to attend. Upon the application’s approval, you will be contacted.
Payment Plans
A student of the 20-Hour Basics Course may divide the course tuition due into up to but no more than ten consecutive payments. The $100 deposit must be paid in full by the first class date. The full tuition amount must be paid within three months and payments may be broken up into no more than 10 consecutive payments. S/he must provide IMPACT with post-dated checks or requests for credit card charge dates for the entire course tuition in advance of the beginning of the course. Checks will be deposited or charges made bi-weekly or monthly as the student indicates. Contact our office to arrange.
Discounts
(Note: Discounts do not apply to students who receive teen scholarships or need-based scholarship funds. Students may only use one discount per course.)
- Early payment: Students who enroll for the course and pay in full at least two weeks prior to the first class receive $30 off of the course tuition.
- Buddy discounts: Students signing up with a friend may deduct $35 off of the tuition fee. Students signing up with 2 or more friends may deduct $70 off of the tuition fee.
- 4-Hour participants Students who have attended the 4-Hour Introductory Workshop (see fee policy below) may deduct $25 off of the Basics tuition fee.
- Graduates: Students retaking the course can do so for half the full cost of the course price ($225).
- IMPACT volunteers may deduct $100 per 50 hours of documented volunteer time. Please speak with the volunteer coordinator for further information regarding volunteer opportunities.
Cancellation Policy
We reserve the right to cancel a class, or modify the class schedule due to low enrollment at any time prior to the start of the class. In the event that a class is canceled, the course tuition will be refunded in full or transferred to the next class.
If a student decides to cancel enrollment, and if notice of cancellation is during regular business hours during a weekday, and if notice is given two weeks or more before the class begins, a student may:
- Transfer credit to a future class within one year, less a $50 administrative fee.
- Receive a fifty percent (50%) refund.
However, no credit or refund is not available if you fail to give proper notice.
