Unique Strategies

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What Makes My Realistic Safety Strategies Unique?

Behavior that make us feel victimized can take on many forms. If we stop and think about it, most of us have experienced some type of victimization. Violent acts occur often enough to be a significant source of anxiety and fear, but do not occur as often as the more subtle and pervasive behavior that we may be subjected to.

At any age, behavioral offenses like coercion, intimidation and harassment can undermine our confidence and leave us confused and insecure about our ability to interact on an equal level with others.

Learning my Realistic Safety Strategies will help empower you to protect yourself from threats to your personal safety that range from behavioral offenses to abuse to violence. There is nothing traditional about my strategies. Why? Because traditional methods of imparting these concepts and skills simply aren't working. These are some of the factors that make my strategies unique...

Human beings are not targets, marks, statistics or prey...

Personal safety instructors often refer to people as targets, marks, statistics and prey. I don't believe we should use these terms to refer to human beings. Because of my strong background in victim advocacy, I'm sensitive to the fact that many of the people who attend my seminars will have experienced some form of abuse or violence in their lifetime. I don't insinuate that victims and survivors of past events could have or should have done something different. Instead, I focus on what can be done to restore a sense of both real and perceived safety in the future.

I have successfully used all of the strategies I teach...many times.

It's not uncommon for traditional instructors to have learned their techniques through books, a train-the-trainer class or in a competitive "sporting" type of environment. Because they lack a clear understanding about how abuse and violence really occurs in our society, they tend to focus on the types of sensationalized crimes that are the least likely to happen.

I developed my curriculum based on real life experiences. Interaction with hundreds of victims and perpetrators and the investigation of countless incidents involving abuse and violence gave me insight into the way things really happen. More importantly, during my career in law enforcement and in

my personal life, I have successfully used my psychological, interpersonal and physical strategies in frequent encounters with people who were difficult, manipulative, emotionally charged, dangerous and violent.

My flexible strategies adapt to most situations...

Traditionally, there has been a strong focus on situational safety and simplistic tips in personal safety training. By that I mean you are expected to memorize a list of things you should or should not do when you are at the ATM, in an elevator, at work, in the car, out jogging, in your home, etc.

There has also been a tendency to divide training programs into categories

like rape prevention, internet safety, bully proofing, stranger danger, dating violence prevention, etc. From a safety perspective, the foundational components of these threats are all the same. When we teach in this compartmentalized fashion, we risk creating confusion and contradiction.

Approaching the topic of personal safety in this fragmented style is ineffective and this training model does not account for all of the variables that inevitably occur in each situation. My strategies are based on interconnected core concepts that you come to understand, rather than memorize, and they are designed to work in any uncomfortable, challenging or dangerous situation you find yourself in.

Freedom, adventure and independence are actually encouraged...

Lifestyle restriction has always been associated with personal safety. We've all heard it, "don't wear high heels, you might have to run" or "don't go out alone after dark" or "don't talk to strangers". If we stop doing the things we enjoy, become suspicious of everyone we meet and succumb to deceptive fears, the perpetrators of abuse and violence will have won. Once you learn my Realistic Safety Strategies, you will feel a new sense of freedom, adventure and independence.

Personal protection is all about options...

There are a lot of instructors out there who think they know what's best for you. But it's important to remember that decisions about personal safety are just that...personal. Only you can decide what strategies will work best for you in any given situation. I believe my role is to provide you with a viable set of options to choose from, not tell you what you should do in any particular situation.

While protecting our life is clearly important, it's not the only thing we have to lose. Harassment, abuse and violence can impact our health, relationships, confidence, family, dreams, emotional well being and much more.

So...in essence, we are protecting everything that these acts can take from us.

When you consider the magnitude of this potential loss, isn't it worth taking some time to learn how to protect yourself?