Safety, Awareness, Victimless, Empowerment (S.A.V.E.)

...and more Girls Fight Back! Classes Scheduled for August

 

Learn the S.A.V.E. Methods and You May Save Your Life

Safety, Awareness, Victimless, Empowerment (S.A.V.E.) and more Girls Fight Back! Classes Scheduled for August

 

After many requests by community members, a new series of safety and self-defense classes is now offered in Winnemucca. In a collaborative effort, the Advocates for Victims of Abuse and Montenegro School of Tae KwonDo have developed a series of courses geared to teach all ages about safety, self-defense, and personal empowerment.

Four separate courses are now being offered. We’ve added a detailed description for each section of the classes so that interested parties will know what to expect. Each class is grouped by ages, involving critical discussions covering the most important awareness principles and safety strategies.  Even if you are already well-versed in safety strategies and are well aware of your surroundings, these lessons will reinforce your safety consciousness and heighten your awareness in many settings.

The youth safety class is for children ages 4-6 years old for both girls and boys.  The class will entail safety at home, in a public place, and in their neighborhood. One of the most common ploys used by predators is coaxing a child toward their vehicle. The child will learn what to watch out for and what to do if a stranger tries to draw them to a car.  In this course, youths will be taught the difference between good and bad strangers.

Home is generally a very safe place to be, but it’s important for children to know procedures for answering the door or telephone and what information to keep from strangers. It is not uncommon for predators to visit the homes of their victims to gather more information. Also taught are emergency situations, such as asking for help and knowing exits.

Tips will be given to parents on additional safeguards to keeping your child safe, such as using the Sex Offender Registries and information cards.  All children must be accompanied by an adult during the class.

Two Anti-Bullying and Safety classes are now offered. Because the classes are for ages 17 and under, parental permission must be given prior to the course.  These classes have five different lessons:

1.                                          Street Smarts: This includes safety walking to and from school, in neighborhoods and parking lots.  Youths will learn when to recognize a dangerous situation and listening to one’s intuition.

2.                                          Cyber-Bullying: 43% of teens aged 13 to 17 report that they have experienced some type of cyber-bullying, 53% of the same age group admit to participating in some way. 58% of youths have said they were cyber-bullied, but never reported it to an adult.  Victims of cyber-bullying are 2 times more likely to attempt suicide. An emphasis will be placed on how youths should respond to cyber-bullying and how to go about reporting it in a way they feel safe.

3.                                          Bystander Intervention:  Bullying rarely occurs in the absence of bystanders. Peers are present in about 85% of bullying episodes in school settings and up to 92% of elementary school students report having observed instances of bullying in their schools. In short, bullying is a group phenomenon.
The majority of bystanders do nothing to help the victims of bullying. If the bullying student is popular and has social status, bystanders may encourage the bullying, especially if the bystanders do not like the victimized student. When bystanders do intervene, bullying stops within 10 seconds more than half (57%) of the time. 

This lesson entails teaching youths how recognize bullying, reporting bullying to an adult as a means of intervention, empowering bystanders to intervene, conflict resolution and empathy skills.

4.                                          Empowerment:  Building self-esteem and the knowledge of knowing you will not be a victim to anyone is incredibly empowering. This includes knowing how to stand up for oneself, confidence, looking others’ in the eye, and conflict resolution: essentially, being a bad victim.

5.                                          Self-Defense Protection: How to remove yourself from a potentially threatening situation. When forced to protect oneself, the best methods to getting out of a situation as quickly and effectively as possible.

These self-defense classes are for women only, ages 13 and over. Learn the 4 phases of a typical sexual assault by stranger, the “Triangle of Victimization”: Undercover Assailants: non-strangers conduct a shocking 78% of all sexual assaults! Between the ages of 16-24, 1 in 4 women experience some form of sexual violence.  In college, most attacks occur during freshman and sophomore years.

This course has an emphasis on what you can do to ensure you never allow a predator to catch you off-guard. Making responsible choices and defending personal boundaries is part of total empowerment. 

This course includes 11 intense sections:

1.                                          Awareness and Intuition: Knowing your surroundings, trusting your gut in situations, exit strategies, confidence, and how to be a bad victim. Safety in a variety of different situations such as using the buddy-system, cell phones, bystander intervention. 

2.                                          Combat Base: How to physically establish a rock-solid base so the attacker can neither push nor pull you against your will.

3.                                          Wrist Release: A man will grab a woman by the wrists to detain, neutralize, or demean her. In this lesson, learn wrist releases guaranteed to free you from any wrist grab, regardless of the attackers strength.

4.                                          Trap and Roll Escape: Being trapped beneath a sexual predator is a nightmarish experience potentially leading to panic, suffocation, exhaustion, and eventual submission.  In this lesson, you will be taught two highly effective escapes from this frightening position.

5.                                          Front Choke Defenses: Assailants often attempt to strangle their victims during a sexual assault. In this lesson, we teach how to apply leverage to escape the two most commonly used front choke holds.

6.                                          Super Slap: Striking a large assailant with punches has limited effectiveness and may cause you to break your hand.  In this lesson, we teach how to use a Super Slap to disrupt the attack and facilitate your escape.

7.                                          Guard Get-Up:  Most important physical technique in this course! Ultimate goal for most sexual predators is to get inside victim’s legs.  Should you find yourself in this situation, the Guard Get-Up will enable you to remain calm, stay safe, and escape at the right time.

8.                                          Stop-Block Frame:  Sexual predators often test their victims’ spatial boundaries. In this lesson, we teach how to use verbal assertiveness to establish your personal space and what to do if the attacker crosses the boundary and physically assaults you.

9.                                          Trap and Roll Extras: This includes more variations from the #3 lesson. Includes what to do if a man achieves the most terrifying position: mounted on top of you while pinning both your wrists to the ground.

10.                                     Guard Get-Up Extras: Greatest challenge when trapped beneath an attacker is to avoid panic and exhaustion.  Additional variations are taught to ensure your survival against an attacker trying to punch, pin, or choke you.

11.                                     Triangle Choke: If you are in a confined space with a predator, escape may not be an option.  In this lesson, we teach you the Triangle Choke, an incredibly powerful Gracie Jiu-Jitsu technique that uses your legs to render your attacker unconscious from the bottom of the fight!

12.                                     Hair Grab Defense:  An assailant will often attempt to control his target by grabbing hair.  In this lesson, learn to defend against the most common hair grabs whether standing or on the ground.

13.                                     Guillotine Choke: Whether your attacker lowers his head to subdue you, he unknowingly creates a perfect opportunity for you to protect yourself.

14.                                     Elbow Escape: An emergency alternative to the Trap and Roll Escape.

15.                                     Rear Attack Defenses: A surprise attack from behind is one of the most challenging attacks to overcome. In this lesson, we teach how to escape when someone attempts to choke you or bear hug you from behind.

16.                                     Weapon Defense:  Some assailants will use a weapon to intimidate and control their victims.  In this lesson we use the weapon to address the psychological aspects of dealing with an armed assailant, as well as methods to use when your life is on the line and you MUST act.

These courses follow the Women’s Empowerment program as part of the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy.

If anyone is interested in taking a class but is not comfortable with any of the lessons, it’s acceptable to sit out and observe. No one will be asked to participate in anything they are uncomfortable with. If any special accommodations are needed, please contact us and we’ll make arrangements ahead of time.

Patience, timing, and leverage can overcome any of life’s adversities, regardless of their nature.  Remember: Anyone can be a victim, regardless of where you live, education, age gender, physical attributes, socioeconomic status, etc. Everyone can learn to protect themselves!   

S.A.V.E. Class Schedules for August

August 20

Young Child Safety (boys and girls, must be accompanied by adult)     Ages 4-6                                          

Anti-Bullying and Safety (boys and girls)                             Ages 7-12                 4:00- 5:30 p.m.

Anti-Bullying and Safety (boys and girls)                            Ages 13-17                5:30-7:00 p.m.

*We suggest participants bring a partner to practice techniques with

                                                                        August 27 and 28

Girls Fight Back! (women only)                                           13 and over                10 a.m.- 1:00 p.m

Note: This is a two-day training!

*We suggest you bring another female partner you are comfortable with to help practice techniques.

Seating is limited for all classes, contact us to reserve your and/or your youths spot! For a full description of each class, please visit www.humboldava.com . To reserve your spot or contact us with any questions, please call 304-7007, 304-5997, or 623-2328.   Or email us a humboldtava@sbcglobal.net 

All classes will entail techniques and information from our free Girls Fight Back! DVD viewings. We are happy to arrange for group sessions or individual sessions by request.  Please contact us to schedule a Girls Fight Back! viewing.

All classes are FREE, but donations are always accepted and appreciated.  AVA is a non-profit 501(c)(3) charity, any donations made are tax-exempt and a receipt will be provided.