Collaboration: The IMPACT International Annual Directors Meeting

The 2013 IMPACT International Directors meeting was hosted by IMPACT Personal Safety of Colorado with representatives from each chapter meeting via Skype and face-to-face.  IMPACT International is an affiliation of 10 chapters in the US and two abroad (England and Israel). Each chapter has its own organizational structure and programmatic focus, but chapters work together to share resources and ideas to enhance the quality of IMPACT self-defense training. For more about common characteristics of IMPACT chapters, see impactselfdefense.org.

IMPACT International engaged in two joint projects in 2013: developing a caregivers curriculum and participating in preparing a grant proposal. At the conference, each participating chapter presented a module that could be used as part of an IMPACT International caregivers curriculum.  The modules included the influence of socialization on safety; distinguishing intuition, paranoia, and prejudice; and principles of and practice with teaching children about boundaries, respecting children’s boundaries, responding when children set boundaries and/or tell of a boundary violation, and having challenging conversations with other adults. Videos and outlines of each module will be discussed by each chapter and feedback will contribute to the development of an IMPACT International caregivers curriculum.

IMPACT International directors also worked this year with Rachel Lucas-Thompson, Assistant Professor of Human Development and Family Studies at Colorado State University, to develop a research proposal for national funding. Rachel attended the Directors meeting to talk about her research on cortisol, the current climate for research funding, and ideas for research. Ellen Melko Moore, visionary brand business consultant, was another special guest who led Directors in an exercise to help refine our mission and vision statements, define who we are serving, and identify our unique value.

Directors also addressed working with domestic violence and sexual assault service providers, networking with other national organizations, and identifying the multitude of ways that chapters benefit from and contribute to the work of other chapters. 

Martha Thompson

IMPACT Chicago Representative to the IMPACT International Directors Meeting