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Self DefenceOur Self Defence system is a set of escalated responses which offers a non-aggressive approach to staying safe in most day-to-day circumstances. As much as we would like to believe that we are always safe, there are times, places and circumstances where the risk of our safety being compromised is higher. We walk through high risk areas and low risk areas every day just by going about our daily business. Confrontation and conflict, both verbal and physical, are risks we all live with. Our 5-step Personal Protection system teaches Self Defence through skills in awareness, avoidance, assertiveness, escape and last resort tactics. You will learn to better read the surrounding environment and, with increased skills, you will have more confidence and peace of mind going about your everyday business.Periodically we offer Sunday Self Defence. This is an opportunity for all members of the community to try our Self Defence system in the form of a self contained basic 2-hour workshop. There is no requirement to have any background in martial arts. So far, Sunday Self Defence has been extremely popular with females of all ages. This same program is now offered on weeknights as part of our Aikido Beginner’s course.    
Acknowledgements The development of our programme, its materials and specialist training by National experts was made possible by a Community Crime Prevention Grant from the Attourney Generals department. We undertake professional development from other experts in the field, including Catherine Schnell a national violence prevention award winner with over 20yrs experience in delivering personal safety programms, together with methods and expertise from within our Aikido school, criminologists and have drawn on resources and research from the miltary, law enforcement and other traditions.
[http://www.crimeprevention.gov.au/,
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Self Defence Program OverviewThis program is taught as a basic 2-hour module at Sunday Self Defence. In a corporate context, it is presented as a more comprehensive 3-hour workshop with emphasis on workplace applications. However, the basic 2-hour module can also be requested as a workplace presentation. In both cases, the workshop is highly participative with many clients using it as a team building exercise. The major elements of the program are:1. Preparation – means increasing your own safety skills, increasing your other safety resources (phone, friends, family) and developing a safety plan 2. Awareness - is your early warning defence, which takes away an assailant’s element of surprise. Learn to reduce all distractions (e.g. mobiles & ear-phones), monitor your environment, increase vigilance in high risk areas, learn to assess risk and trust your intuition. Recognise early warning signs and know what it means to become a hard target 3. Avoidance – there are plenty of opportunities to take evasive action. Walk away from a dispute, if you see or sense trouble walk away, leave even if it is no more than a bad intuitive feeling, if in doubt cross the street, take a wide path around a blind corner, move away from bushes, avoid short cuts through lonely areas, stay with the crowds, don’t allow yourself to become isolated, walk on the outside of the footpath away from darkened doorways 4. Assertiveness – Most of the time you will be dealing with someone you know. In rare instances of criminal activity it pays to know the type of person you are dealing with. Criminals look for easy targets, with no noise, no challenge or resistance and no interruptions. They certainly don’t want to be identified or caught. So learn how to make them work and act calmly to increase their chances of being caught! Elements of assertiveness that you will learn include use of eye contact, body language, body movement, distance and voice, choice of words and tone, naming the offensive behaviour and learning to say NO! A key outcome is to learn how to move and behave in a manner that is calm, assertive and unpredictable in terms of not being what the attacker expects. The other key outcome is to act assertively whilst actively de-escalating the confrontation and seeking to escape. 5. Escape – In a threatening situation you keep moving, the direction of movement (i.e. forwards, backwards or sideways) is not important provided it is always towards safety. You may have to break free of a grab before you can escape or you may have to strike to distract, so that you can break free. The goal is always to escape, so don’t be too proud to turn and run. Staying safe is the goal, not looking cool. You will learn a wide variety of escapes that are useful in the most assault situations. They include ‘grabs’ and ‘holds’ from both front and back, unwanted affection and being pinned on the ground. You will also learn how to effectively strike for distraction as a last resort strategy. |
Self Defence and Personal Protection for Todays World
Contrary to what we see on TV, Brisbane and Australia are pretty safe places to live. Random street crime isn’t all that random. Did you know that in 80% of sexual assaults the assailant knows their victim? In fact most personal violence, apart from robbery is perpetrated by someone known to the victim. Many violent acts take place between family, friends and acquaintances, where risk factors like alcohol and drugs fuel a volatile situation. The good news for all of us then is that the chances of being randomly attacked is unlikely, so we need to equip ourselves with a ‘radar’ to warn of trouble in advance and with some useful tools to diffuse potentially volatile situations and get out of trouble early. These tools need to be tailored to deal mostly with family, friends and acquaintances. If you are looking for ways to throw someone around the car park or take on a mob of punks single handedly, then this course probably isn’t for you. Our aim is to provide the community with appropriate responses to keep everyday people and their families’ safe whilst getting on with the rest of their lives, without the need to unleash the warrior within.
