Our voice is one of our most powerful self-defense tools. We can use it to set boundaries for ourselves, to de-escalate a potentially violent situation, and to intervene to help keep others safe.

In this class Patricia (Pat) Broughton, Thousand Waves Self-Defense Program Coordinator, will lead participants in examining and practicing a range of verbal empowerment self-defense skills, building from the simple but often hard-to-say “no” to more complex situations that require additional verbal dexterity. Participants will look at and practice the range of exercises that Thousand Waves’ ESD instructors use in teaching “Yell,” the second finger of the Five Fingers of Self-Defense. These exercises focus on the application of verbal skills in a variety of situations where we need to set boundaries, de-escalate and intervene on behalf of others in our daily lives.

Whether you’re a student wanting to learn and/or strengthen your verbal self-defense skills, or an ESD instructor who wants to see the progression Thousand Waves has created to teach verbal ESD skills, this class offers something for you.

Session 2 of the NWMAF ESD Model Course for those pursuing instructor certification

Bring: n/a

Wear: comfortable clothes