Thanks to All Who Made it Possible to Equip and Train Two New Suited Instructors

New suited instructor AC (in white) & longtime instructors Nat &  Rob

Thank you to everyone who helped us raise funds to equip & train two new suited instructors. 

AC (in the white above) is the first new IMPACT Chicago suited instructor in over a decade. He has completed the co-teaching phase and will begin his supervised phase in August. Now that we can cover the expenses for his equipment and training, we can start the search for a second new suited instructor. Thank you!

Why did people donate? Here are some of the things people said:

• Thank you for all you do! Alexandra
• Way to go IMPACT for so many years of high quality, powerful training! Anonymous
• Worthy Cause. Thank you for your work. Anonymous
• Took this class years ago; glad to see it is still around. Athena
• Woohoo! Great cause! Debbie
• Keep up the good work! Dominic
• Took the class almost 30 years ago, carry it with me every day, tell people about it all the time. Dori
• Here's to your success!! Elizabeth
• Sending our love (and $) to IMPACT Chicago from the "Beauty Bites Beast" team! Ellen
• Impact changed my life. I want to help others benefit from Impact. Janet
• I took an IMPACT class in 1998 and it changed my life. I saw that I was strong and worth defending. The compassion and expertise of the suited instructors were instrumental in that transformation for me. Kellie
• Supporting IMPACT Chicago and, by extension, empowering women? Sounds good to me! Ken
• Thank you for ALL that you are doing to empower women. Best of luck! Kevin
• Thanks for providing such a great service. Kimberly
• This is so important. thank you and much love from Slovenia. Martina
• Love your guys. Michelle
• It's an honor to support the wonderful work of IMPACT Chicago. Nancy and Sarah
• Great organization! Noreen
• Keep up the good work! Pamela
• Thank you for this opportunity to contribute to this life changing and inspiring organization. The skills I have learned lives on in my life every day and spreads as I share my story and experience with others. I appreciate you all very much. Patti
• Proud to support such a great organization! Rachel
• Continue the great work! Sandria
• IMPACT changes lives. Thank you for all that you do. One day "no" will be enough, until then there is IMPACT. Shelley
• I tell EVERYONE about IMPACT. Attending the February Core Program was so inspiring and truly life changing. Thank you for all you do. Suzanne

 It is not too late to donate! 

You can donate via CauseVox 

OR send a check to IMPACT Chicago, 4057 N. Damen Chicago IL 60618

Thank you!

Mark Nessel: Training the Next Generation of IMPACT Suited Instructors

 

Mark with his kids Sam and Sofie

The IMPACT core class is such a complicated and multi layered thing that the training and certification period for new instructors, which frequently seems unnecessarily long to people that are unfamiliar with the details of the class, is a one of the foundational elements of the success of the program.  The necessary skills can't really be put into practice in a laboratory environment, it's simply impossible to simulate all the possible permutations of what might happen in a class.  The only real way to effectively train staff is to utilize an apprenticeship model where staff in training are working in a class with real students under close supervision of senior certified instructors.

     There are no throw-away moments in the IMPACT core program.  Every interplay with the class or individual students is an opportunity to either enhance or diminish their learning.  IMPACT instructors are always "on", from the moment the first student arrives before the class until the moment the last one leaves.  Every interaction needs to be intentional.  The only way to learn this is from practice and the experience of the senior staff.

     While I'm no longer able to be in the suit, I'm grateful for the opportunity to share my experience with the next generation of suited IMPACT instructors.  We need this course and this organization now more than ever before.  Highly trained professional instructors are critical to the IMPACT program's survival and advancement of our mission of reducing and eliminating predatory violence against women.  I'm thrilled to be able to contribute to the mission through training new instructors.

Mark Nessel, IMPACT Chicago Instructor Trainer 

For more about Mark as a Suited Instructor, check out  "It's Time to Hang Up My Helmet."

          

Aaron: New IMPACT Chicago Suited Instructor

AC Christensen

Aaron Christensen (AC) is the newest member of the IMPACT Chicago Instructor Team.  He has completed the required attendance at a What is IMPACT program, rigorous interview process, observation of two Core Programs, and an intensive out-of-class training with instructors and experienced class assistants, wearing body armor customized just for him. He will be one of the suited instructors in the upcoming 2018 April Core Program.

Aaron brings a lot of experience to IMPACT. He is a certified Rape Prevention and Self Defense Instructor with the American Women’s Self Defense Association, and has worked internationally with Peak Potentials and Success Resources, assisting and leading motivational camps that incorporate martial arts and non-verbal tactics to de-escalate and/or end conflicts without compromising one’s safety or integrity of self (2013-present). He is an Elite-level personal trainer with Chicago Athletic Clubs, a professional actor, and one of the founding members of Not In Our House: Chicago, an organization created to combat sexual harassment and unbecoming conduct within the Chicago theatre community (2015-present). Welcome, Aaron!

Class Assistant and Board Member Janette
helping with AC's out-of-class training

Mal Malme Running to Bring Training for People with Disabilities to Chicago

Mal Malme, an IMPACT Boston grad, is going to run in the October Chicago marathon to raise money to train IMPACT Chicago instructors to teach IMPACT:Ability, a nationally recognized safety program for people with disabilities developed by sister organization IMPACT Boston under the leadership of Meg Stone.  Mal has run in the Boston marathon twice and when she decided to run in the Chicago marathon, she decided to run to support IMPACT Chicago. IMPACT Instructors have wanted to do the training, but we have not had the funds. Thank you, Mal!

            In the IMPACT:Ability curriculum, people with disabilities learn and develop their ability to recognize unsafe situations and respond with effective self-protective behaviors. Participants learn to advocate for themselves in everyday situations as well as learn skills to deal with dangerous situations, such as bullying, harassment, attempted abduction, and sexual violence.  Research by the Institute for Community Health found that the program increases participants’ knowledge, self-confidence, and self-protective behaviors.  Click here to contribute to the fund.

           

            

Teaching Self-Defense in Israel

In 2004, Jill Shames and Yudit Sidikman approached me about bringing IMPACT to Israel. After a year of planning, IMPACT Chicago suited instructor and trainer Mark Nessel and I arrived in Israel in the summer of 2005 and trained 4 lead instructors, 5 suited instructors, and 1 class assistant. We returned in 2006 to finalize the training of the 9 instructors and to start the training of another group of suited instructors and class assistants, some of whom are now lead instructors.

When I mention to people in the U.S. that I have been to Israel to teach women’s self-defense and train women’s self-defense instructors in IMPACT, one of the most common responses has been to question the need for a U.S. women’s self-defense instructor to go to Israel. Typical comments: sexual assault isn’t a problem in Israel, Israelis know more about self-defense than anybody, or Israeli women serve in the military so why would they need a self-defense course.

Even though I had not been to Israel before, I had known Jill and Yudit for years through the U.S. National Women’s Martial Arts Federation (NWMAF). I was confident that these two savvy NWMAF certified self-defense instructors would not be spending time and money to bring IMPACT instructors to Israel to teach self-defense and do instructor training unless they saw it as a unique addition to the other effective self-defense systems they were already offering at El Halev, a nonprofit Israeli organization established in 2003 with a focus on empowering women and girls through martial arts and self-defense (www.elhalev.org).

Though I believed that IMPACT would be a valuable addition to El Halev’s programming, I was concerned about how parts of this very American course were going to “translate.” Some of my concerns were echoed prior to our first self-defense class by some of the instructors-in-training who added other concerns that I hadn’t thought about--the circles where women share their experiences and feelings, women yelling together and offering their support to others, women fighting full force when someone in an obviously padded suit and helmet grabs them, and frankly—the drama and surrealism of it all!

I’m not sure exactly when my concerns were erased, but the instructors-in-training and the women in the first IMPACT course in Israel modeled what effective translation is all about. In its most common usage, the word translation means to take an idea formed in one language and express it in another, but in its broadest sense translation means to move, shift, or change—whether in language, perspective, location, or medium. That is what happened to this very American course in Israel. Instructors and students translated the essence of IMPACT—believing they are worth defending, judging behavior and not appearance or social status, being in the moment, 100% engagement, and following the ethic of least harm (i.e. doing only what you need to do to stop an attack and no more). What a thrill to have been part of the process of launching IMPACT Israel!

Martha Thompson

Director

Instructor Trainer

IMPACT Chicago

Chicago, Illinois USA