IMPACT is Also for Veterans!

Slowly but steadily, Felicia is getting her life back. She’d always struggled with low self-confidence. When she signed up for the US Navy, she thought she would finally feel safe. And then a horrible thing happened, something that she still can’t name. “When I was 19 years old, two of my battle buddies took something from me,” she says.

With Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Joint Chiefs Chairman General Martin Dempsey’s mid-May resolve to address this scourge, the United States Military is finally recognizing the extent of the sexual crimes being committed within its institution. The US House of Representatives has gone further by approving an additional 2-year mandatory prison sentence for sexual offenders in the military. These changes will be top-down mandates to punish offenders, protect whistle-blowers, and assist victims. There is yet another solution—one where women learn to defend themselves. The military doesn’t make “combatives” a priority [the army’s way of teaching hand-to-hand combat].

In contrast, IMPACT Chicago creates a safe environment to practice realistic, full-force self-defense techniques in simulated scenarios with a padded attacker and a personal coach. Women and girls report that IMPACT programs enhance personal freedom and safety and increase confidence in making peaceful choices for dealing with violence. Imagine if all women learned these skills as a matter of course in middle- and high school?

IMPACT is based on an understanding of violence, particularly gender-based violence, as a widespread social problem perpetuated by imbalances of power and disrespect for others. Since 1987, IMPACT Chicago has taught thousands of women how to use the voices and bodies they have to set boundaries and create a safer world for themselves, other women, and all people.

Underlying the IMPACT Chicago approach is an understanding of gender-based violence in institutionalized settings such as the military and why violence against women is prevalent yet under-reported; the importance of grass-roots approaches to changing the incidence of violence against women; and how women have used self-defense training to heal from past experiences.

The next IMPACT program for adults is September 20, 21, and 22 at Tribe, 1819 W. Belmont, Chicago, IL 60657. Visit impactchicago.org, info@impactchicago.org, or 773-561-9000.

AC Racette, IMPACT grad and IMPACT Administrative Team

What is our big picture view of violence and self-defense?

IMPACT is based on an understanding of violence, particularly gender-based violence, as a widespread social problem perpetuated by imbalances of power and disrespect for others. We share an understanding that intersections of gender, race, class, sexuality, age, national origin, disability affect how an individual may be targeted and respond to violence.

We believe that regardless of age, size, and physical abilities, people are powerful and capable of self-protection. We believe that IMPACT self-defense training is an essential part of a broad vision and comprehensive strategy to prevent abuse, respond effectively to violence, support healing, and create social change.


What kind of an organization are we?

We are a nimble organization. We are mission-driven with clear manageable goals. We are efficient, effective, and selective – meaning we minimize work that does not clearly push our mission forward or is not required for fiscal solvency. Our mission and programming are at the center of our work. Our organizational structure spreads out responsibility for the work required to keep our mission and programming going across three key groups: Board, Instructors, and Administration.


What human resources do we need to maintain our success and to grow?

The three major leadership structures (board, administration, and instructors) and the functions IMPACT Chicago needs to keep going are depicted in our organization chart (more on this in August!). An intrinsic part of our smooth functioning is that one or more people in leadership positions have a big picture view of the organization, understanding the important contributions each part makes and the interconnections among the leadership structures and functions and how they all combine to maintain our programs and mission.


Our Mission Statement

We are committed to ending violence and building a non-violent world in which all people can live safely and with dignity. By teaching self-defense, we provide women and girls with the tools they need to prevent, minimize, and stop violence. With that, IMPACT Chicago is committed to making its programs accessible to people of all economic, racial/ethnic, and social groups. IMPACT Chicago encourages the personal growth of people within the organization and supports their creative efforts to end violence and build a non-violent world.

Our key values are that both individuals and communities are responsible for safety and violence prevention. We believe that women and girls are powerful and have the right to control their own bodies and set boundaries. We also believe that men are and can be allies. We implement our mission by creating female-male teams led by female instructors. We work with diverse groups of people – across gender, race, class, sexuality, age, and physical abilities – and create classroom environments in which people learn individually and collectively. We serve women and girls (cis and trans). We do outreach in various communities, offer financial assistance to individuals, and offer workshops for organizations serving low-income groups.

Rape Victim Advocates and IMPACT Chicago

In an effort to better educate ourselves and help connect with Rape Victim Advocates (RVA), the IMPACT Chicago board participated in a workshop at the RVA headquarters downtown in March 2011. RVA has been around 30+ years, and sets the gold-standard for rape survivors, their families, and loved ones. They do support work, legal and medical help, counseling, and, perhaps most well-known, their emergency room advocacy.

Their ER advocates receive 56 hours of training to be a responder to survivors of sexual assault. Once trained, advocates are on call (on a rotating basis) for 24 hour periods, and are called/paged to respond to participating Chicago area hospitals when a rape survivor shows up in the emergency room. Needless to say, we are happy to be forming a connection with RVA.

Eva Ball was our instructor/facilitator for the two-hour period. She was fantastic – full of energy, helpful, and charismatic. We talked about systems of oppression and power differentials in our society, including how language for sexually active women. We also watched and discussed a video of images of women in popular media (music, music videos, film).

The final part of the training was reviewing RVA’s materials to see the shift to a “pro-consent” approach from an anti-rape approach. Board members and instructors will discuss how best to incorporate these ideas and materials into our classes and on our website.

The next step is for IMPACT to provide training for RVA. We are looking forward to continued collaborations.

Rob Babcock
IMPACT Chicago Board member and instructor

For more about IMPACT Chicago and its Board of Directors, visit http://www.impactchicago.org/about.html

For about the IMPACT Chicago mission, see IMPACT Chicago Director Martha Thompson’s blog “IMPACT Chicago: Committed to Ending Violence”

Ten Things Every Woman Should Know

Ever run across the book by Pearl Cleage What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day? In it, she makes a list of 10 things every women should know. Here's the list:

What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day

“Ten Things Every Woman Should Know”
1. How to grow food and flowers
2. How to prepare food nutritiously
3. Self-defense
4. Basic first aid/sex education and midwifery
5. Child care (prenatal/early childhood development )
6. Basic literacy/basic math/ basic computer skills
7. Defensive driving/map reading/ basic auto and home repairs
8. Household budget/money management
9. Spiritual practice
10.Physical fitness/health/hygiene

I like the list. I've got some significant work to do on a few items--#7, #1 in particular! But I want to bring your attention to #3, as one of the most important parts of my life is creating opportunities for women to develop self defense skills as a core part of what we need as women.

There are many things I do that bring me joy and balance that I like to talk about (Martial Arts, Bikram Yoga, watching bad romantic comedies, eating chocolate truffles). But I have no agenda in convincing others to do these things also--there are many paths to a happy, balanced life and chocolate is only one of them.

But self defense is something else altogether and I proselytize about it freely. Amidst all the beauty in life are parts that are dangerously unbalanced--and violence is one of those. As women, we can be targets for this violence and it happens to countless of us every day in every corner of our country, our cities and our suburbs. Our daughters and nieces and girls who live on our block face it too. There is no warning, there is no time to prepare when the threat is imminent. If a violent threat came into your life, you should have your preparation already done, your power already tapped into so that you can pull it out when you need it.

These are not ordinary times. If they were, learning how to fight wouldn't be on the list of things we need to know along with growing plants and children, fixing our cars, spiritual practice. But do not turn your head away from the world as it is--be your own example of power and strength, be the example for the girls growing up behind us.

Isn't it time for you to make time to promote self-defense for women and girls? Or take IMPACT if you haven’t already done so? Won't you join my cause and forward this to women and girls you know? Be part of our goal: to make attacking a women or girl a very dangerous thing to do.

Next Core Program is May 14, 15, 21, and 22 at Dominican University Gym, River Forest. For information and registration: Go to www.impactchicago.org. Or send an email to info@impactchicago.org. Or call 773 561 9000 begin_of_the_skype_highlightingend_of_the_skype_highlighting. Or do all three.

Margaret Vimont

Senior Instructor

IMPACT Chicago

Our Bodies Are Not the Scene of the Crime

Society is the Crime Scene When a woman or girl reports a sexual assault, her body becomes the scene of a crime. She not only experiences the trauma of sexual assault, but her body becomes a source of forensic evidence, a location to be scrutinized, and a focal point for the crime itself. A woman’s body is no longer her own, but a crime scene. Imagine if, instead, we mark the crime scene as the society where women and girls are held responsible for violence they experience and yet are discouraged from learning how to defend themselves against violence.
Self-Defense Training Makes a Difference Every two minutes someone is assaulted, almost half of sexual assault victims are under 18, the majority of rapes are committed by someone known to the person attacked, and only 1 out of 16 rapists spend time in jail. Women and girls who complete self-defense training report increased self-confidence and awareness as well as acquisition of a wide range of verbal and physical self-defense skills applicable to many real-life situations. A woman who fights back gains an 86% chance of avoiding the rape and incurs little chance of additional injury.
Our Bodies Are Worth Defending IMPACT Chicago Self-Defense for Women says NO to marking women’s bodies as crime scenes. While we work to change society so that it is no longer acceptable for rape to exist and perpetrators to walk free, we say YES to providing women and girls the tools to maximize their personal safety and assertiveness and to creating avenues for women’s and girls’ voices to become part of a comprehensive effort to prevent sexual assault and other acts of interpersonal violence and boundary violations. Cassandra of Chicago says: "After serving in the military for six years, deploying to Afghanistan, and surviving sexual assault, IMPACT gave me the tools to feel self-confident, in control of my body, and the self-assurance to say NO!"
In IMPACT participants learn self-defense tools in a space where the violence women and girls experience is acknowledged, where it is understood that each woman and girl has done the best she could with the tools she had, and where women and girls are encircled with compassion and support. For information about upcoming IMPACT programs, go to www.IMPACTchicago.org. For reasons to take an IMPACT course, check out Amy Voege’s March 27 blog: “Four reasons to take an IMPACT course."
Martha Thompson Director and Instructor IMPACT Chicago

Criteria for an Effective Self-Defense Program and How IMPACT Stacks up

1. Do instructors demonstrate sensitivity to people who have experienced violence? Do instructors project calmness and centeredness, offer clear instructions and guidelines, use positive an non-judgmental language, project compassion for each person, demonstrate patience and competence, project confidence in the participants and a commitment to their success?

Led by a highly trained female instructor, our instructor team is sensitive to abuse and related issues. Our female instructors take responsibility for the overall climate of the course with support from suited instructors and class assistants. While our techniques have been rigorously developed, our instructors see the psychological well-being of the women in the course as the first and foremost issue which is given consideration at every step of our ongoing program development efforts. We view positive non-judgmental feedback and modeling as two important and frequently used training tools. Our step-by- step process of developing skills and confidence allows women to build on prior successes. Women come to the course with various backgrounds and we have no expectations that all will be at the same place at the same time. In fact, quite the opposite, we expect women to experience aspects of the course in their own way. In all cases, our instructors are compassionate and accepting of participants.

2. Is a supportive and emotionally safe environment created for the participants? Do instructors establish ground rules for expected behavior in the class (e.g. treating others with respect)? Do instructors give participants a chance to introduce themselves? Are calming and centering techniques taught? Are limits placed and maintained on who can come into the class (e.g. are minimum age limits established)?

Our ground rules include confidentiality, active listening, avoiding interruptions, and treating each other with respect. IMPACT instructors offer a physically safe and emotionally supportive environment, which allows students to increase self-confidence and skills and enhance their sense of personal power.

We have an enrollment limit of 16 women per Core Program. The enrollment limit for other courses varies.

Because of the emotionally charged nature of the Core Program, IMPACT strongly recommends that women who have experienced sexual assault or relationship violence wait to take IMPACT for at least six months from the last attack. Most women who have been recently assaulted are still working through the trauma of the assault, and the simulated scenarios can stimulate flashbacks of the real-life assault, delaying emotional healing. We highly recommend that anyone who has been assaulted and is contemplating taking our program consult a therapist before registering. This training is not meant to substitute for therapy.

We do not recommend the Core Program for women who are pregnant. If a woman becomes pregnant during the course, we strongly urge her to discontinue her participation in the course. We have workshops that she would be welcome to attend. She may re-take the course within a five-year period

without any additional fees.

3. Is a physically safe environment created for the participants? Are participants asked to identify

injured or vulnerable areas to reduce chance of re-injury? Are participants given guidelines in how to use their bodies safely and powerfully? Do instructors guide participants through warm-up exercises?

Do instructors pay attention to creating a safe physical space, such as free from obstruction, safe distance between participants when practicing, access to water and bathrooms, privacy from onlookers, monitored entrance so that an abuser cannot enter the building?

Physical safety of participants is a high priority for IMPACT.

Our warm up routine is a part of every program involving physical work.

In terms of injuries, in each course, one instructor is the designated lead to make sure any injury is handled properly and efficiently. We strongly urge women who have chronic conditions to inform instructors of the condition, the whereabouts of any needed medication, and the directions on how to help her meet her needs.

Any injured or vulnerable area is marked and the instructors are always reminded of this injury prior to any physical work. The equipment worn by the suited instructors is the result of over 25 years of design work by a mechanical engineer to ensure the safety of our participants and instructors.

Our spaces are safe, private, and minimize the presence of onlookers. In many of our locations, the entrance to our space is monitored outside of the room. When there is not a monitor, assistants and instructors immediately deal with people who (typically inadvertently) enter the space.

4. Do the instructors have a clear pedagogical approach and well-organized class plan? For instance, do the instructors set a beginning and ending time with an opening and closing to the class? Do they have a plan for teaching whereby one thing builds on another? Do instructors demonstrate tools and skills slowly so that participants can see what is happening, use clear and measured language and body movement to teach tools and skills, give participants an opportunity to practice and receive constructive feedback? Do instructors create the opportunity for questions?

IMPACT has a clear pedagogical approach that undergoes continual review and refinement. Our courses are well-organized and efficiently run. We begin and end programs on time. Techniques are incrementally learned and paced appropriately. Participants see demonstrations of what they are going to learn and have an opportunity to ask questions. In the Core Program, techniques are learned, practiced in the air, and then practiced in drills with padded strikers and pads. Eventually these same techniques are used in simulated attack scenarios that allow for full-force training. Our simulations include physical and non-physical boundary violations committed by strangers and people we know.

Students are coached by one instructor while another instructor portrays the role of aggressor or assailant. Our instructor team: student ratio in courses involving physical work is at most 1:5 (and often 1:3), allowing constructive feedback to be provided on an individual basis.

5. Do participants learn and practice more than physical techniques? For instance, do instructors offer a big picture of violence and self-defense and teach self and environmental awareness, assessment skills, verbal boundary setting, de-escalation, and physical tools?

IMPACT emphasizes communication strategies such as verbal de-escalation, assertive communication, and boundary-setting skills. We understand the cultural context experienced by our participants with respect to social norms implicitly condoning certain types of abuse and we are committed to reducing violence. We also recognize and address cultural variations in understanding of spatial relationships, eye contact, and verbal engagement.

6. Do instructors demonstrate an understanding of the challenges faced by survivors of violence? For instance, do instructors offer recommendations that are consistent with self-defense laws and with advice by advocacy groups and service providers, such as a safety plan and not carrying weapons? Do instructors use language that emphasizes getting to safety rather than expressing revenge or hatred?

IMPACT training is an important part of a comprehensive strategy to create social change, prevent abuse, and support healing. IMPACT organizations are committed to a broad vision of societal response to violence. We do not advocate any form of revenge or hatred. Our emphasis is on safety and basic principles to prevent an assault, de-escalate potentially dangerous situations, physically stop an attack, and survive and move beyond an attack experience.

7. Are instructors certified women’s self-defense instructors? Are the instructors certified by

a nationally recognized women’s self-defense organization, such as the National Women’s

Martial Arts Federation Self-Defense Group www.nwmaf.org or IMPACT International

www.impactselfdefenseorg? Do the instructors have professional knowledge concerning violence against women and/or professional experience in working with survivors of violence?

IMPACT instructors go through an extensive interview process and background check before beginning training. The training process is lengthy and thorough. IMPACT instructors are certified before they can be the lead instructor or the main suited instructor in a course. Some lead instructors in IMPACT have also gone through the process of receiving additional certification from the National Women’s Martial Arts Federation. IMPACT instructors also continue to do professional development and training to stay abreast of current issues and research in terms of gendered violence and self-defense.

The checklist for choosing a self-defense course was developed by Martha Thompson, Director and Instructor, IMPACT Chicago with input from Jennifer Caruso and Elizabeth Vitell, Rogers Park Community Council. Lisa Amoroso, IMPACT Chicago Board Member, wrote How IMPACT Stacks Up. For recommended philosophical underpinnings and FAQs about women’s self-defense, refer to the National Coalition Against Sexual Assault Guidelines for Choosing a Self-Defense course http://www.karatevid.com/article-SDguidelines.html

IMPACT Chicago: Committed to Ending Violence

What is the IMPACT Chicago mission?
IMPACT Chicago is committed to ending violence and building a non-violent world in which all
people can live safely and with dignity. For more about the IMPACT mission, visit http://
www.impactchicago.org/about.html.

What is IMPACT?
IMPACT is a personal safety, assertiveness and self-defense training program. It is part of
a comprehensive effort to prevent sexual assault and other acts of interpersonal violence and
boundary violations. IMPACT is an international affiliation of independent chapters. Each
IMPACT chapter has its own organizational structure and programmatic focus. For more about
IMPACT International, go to www.impactselfdefense.org

What does self-defense have to do with violence prevention?
Our key values are that both individuals and communities are responsible for safety and violence
prevention. We believe that women and girls are powerful and have the right to control their own bodies and set boundaries. To prevent violence—whether against oneself or others—individuals must have confidence in their awareness, assessment, and verbal skills in order to set and maintain boundaries and to deescalate potentially explosive situations. IMPACT is based on the idea that confidence in one’s own body and physical tools is the foundation for all other self-defense tools.

Why are men involved in a women’s self-defense organization?
We believe that men are and can be allies. We implement our mission by creating female-male
teams led by female instructors. Our female and male instructors demonstrate the possibilities for women and men to work together to end violence.

Is IMPACT just for women and girls who are physically fit and have money?
We work with diverse groups of people--gender, race, class, sexuality, age, and physical ability
and create classroom environments in which people learn individually and collectively. We serve
women and girls (including transgendered people identifying as female) ages 14-70. We do
outreach in various communities, offer financial assistance to individuals, and offer workshops
for organizations serving low-income groups.

Why does IMPACT make it a priority to work with other organizations?
Although we are effective, no one organization can singlehandedly combat sexual assault and
domestic violence, therefore, we work collaboratively with other organizations that directly
address violence, its roots, or consequences. Our vision is that self-defense training is an integral
part of violence prevention and to be most effective must be offered in conjunction with other
support services.

What did IMPACT accomplish in 2010?
IMPACT Chicago served over 1500 people during 2010 through our program offerings
(Core Program, Core Skills, Advanced courses, and workshops) and through social media (e-
newsletter, Facebook, and Twitter). Through our programs, almost 700 participants learned a
range of self-defense skills and through social media another 900 participants had access to self-
defense information that increased their awareness of violence and self-defense strategies. With
over 23,000 visits to our website, IMPACT Chicago also provided people not affiliated with our
programs access to up-to-date self-defense information.

What are IMPACT Chicago goals for 2011?
For 2011, IMPACT Chicago will be mission-driven:
•Increase the number of women and girls in Chicago who have the tools to prevent, minimize, and stop violence.
• Increase the accessibility of our programs with a focus on increasing the numbers of African American women who participate in IMPACT self-defense training.
• Increase professional development and personal growth opportunities for staff, instructors, and volunteers.
• Make explicit a collective philosophy, standards, and system of support and accountability for internal interpersonal communication.

Martha Thompson, Director and Instructor
IMPACT Chicago