Bringing IMPACT to More Women and Girls: Laura M. Dini, IMPACT Chicago Referral/Outreach Coordinator

Laura M. Dini is new Referral/Outreach Coordinator for IMPACT Chicago. Laura works with graduates from the Core Program and with Workshop participants as well as their supporters. She also nurtures contacts with female-focused support organizations, such as rape-crisis centers and social services organization to promote the benefits to their members of IMPACT’s Core Program. Key among her responsibilities is collaborating with Core Program graduates for referrals, as well as increasing  social media and press contacts.

Another focus is to increase the number of schools, universities, nonprofit organizations, and businesses contacting IMPACT for workshops from graduates and their supporters. In the first 1½ months at the job, Laura has increased the number of participants in one  Core Program by 50% through collaboration with Chicago’s largest provider of supportive housing exclusively for women, researched new locations, reached out to recent graduates & collaborated on the annual fund drive. Laura works closely with Lisa Amoroso, Board Chair, Martha Thompson, Director Emeritus & IMPACT Instructor and Tara Brinkman, Registration and Workshop Coordinator.

Laura received her B.A. from UMKC and her Master of Arts in Applied Professional Studies from DePaul with a focus on Project Management, Knowledge-sharing and Cross-Cultural Integration for International Nonprofits.

Throughout Laura’s working career, she has brought strong analytical, planning and organizational skills to the successful execution of numerous projects, focusing on cooperation and efficiency. Moreover, her public relations and marketing experience, particularly in the nonprofit sector, has provided her with strong communications and networking skills. Much of this experience was devoted to building support for, and increasing participation in the programs at the continuing education school at the University of Chicago. “Networking and outreach are traits that come naturally to me. When I believe in an organization, it is second nature for me to promote it!”

She also has a variety of volunteer experiences such as as a volunteer fundraiser for the

Illinois Chapter of the Sierra Club, volunteer fundraiser for Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and Member/Facilitator/Volunteer for the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

Laura has a broad cross-cultural perspective, strong work ethic, and personal initiative and knows the value of establishing and nurturing a network of support resources and professional relationships.

Laura has just recently finished her first IMPACT Core Program and has the utmost respect and admiration for the instructors and volunteers who run the program. “I have seen all the hard-work and organizing that it takes to plan these programs and workshops but to then see the dedicated and energetic instructors and volunteers who guide the participants through this incredible program has been thoroughly inspiring!”

You can reach Laura at outreach@impactchicago.org.

Advocating for Better Health and More Effective Communication: Kelsey Smith, IMPACT Chicago Office Coordinator

My name is Kelsey Smith and I am the new IMPACT Chicago Office Coordinator. In this position, I will be coordinating the office and related program work to support IMPACT Chicago, including maintaining databases, website updates, scheduling, and working with volunteers.

My interest in IMPACT was sparked three years ago when Kaytea, then an IMPACT instructor with IMPACT Personal Safety of Colorado, and Sarah, Co-Director of IMPACT Personal Safety of Colorado, stayed in my apartment as guests of my roommate while they took the IMPACT Defense Against Multiple Assailants course. After their first day, we had dinner and began discussing IMPACT and its mission. The women invited my other roommates and me to their IMPACT ceremony the next day. I attended and it surely made an impact on my life. I truly believe that all people deserve to live a healthy and happy life. I immediately saw that IMPACT gives women the tools to do so in a world that challenges this right every day.

With the influence of IMPACT, I chose a psychology and gender studies degree while focusing my independent research on boundaries and assertiveness. In January 2013, when given the opportunity to create my own independent study, I found myself in San Francisco for a month and took the opportunity to integrate IMPACT Bay Area’s Basics course (similar to the IMPACT Chicago Core Program) with research on boundary setting. I continued this work for the next year and a half, writing my honor’s thesis on assertiveness, health, and gender socialization. Earlier this year, I received my B.A. in psychology from New College of Florida. My academic work has given me a deeper understanding of assertiveness, health, and gender socialization, a perspective I look forward to bringing to the work I will be doing with IMPACT Chicago.

In addition to my dedication to the IMPACT mission, I am also bringing skills that I have developed as a consistent volunteer over the past 12 years with Kamp Dovetail, an organization and camp for kids with disabilities. I have been organizing and communicating with campers, families, and potential donors for years, including managing the Facebook page, developing databases, and organizing fundraisers. I have extensive experience using Google Drive and teaching others how to use it. I am currently working with Planned Parenthood of Illinois and have prior experience as an intern with Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida and Manatee County Health Department and a volunteer with the Chicago Women’s Health Center. My commitment is to continue to work in collaboration with people and organizations striving for better health and more effective communication.

Kelsey Smith, IMPACT Chicago Office Coordinator

Resistance Stops Sexual Assault and Does Not Increase Risk of Injury

Recent research confirms that fighting back against an assailant does not increase the likelihood of injury, but it does increase the likelihood of preventing sexual assault.

Jongyeon Tark and Gary Kleck published a study in Violence Against Women on “Resisting Rape: The Effects of Victim Self-Protection on Rape Completion and Injury.” Their research used data from the National Crime Victimization Survey to answer two questions, ““Are you more likely to be injured when being assaulted if you protect yourself?” and “What self-protection actions are effective in reducing rape completion?”

This study specifically focused on the sequence of self-protective actions and injury: whether injuries were inflicted prior to victims taking self-protective actions (and therefore irrelevant to the question, “Are you more likely to be injured when being assaulted if you try to protect yourself?”) or after taking self-protective actions. The researchers looked at a variety of situations including those in which the victim was attacked or threatened with a gun, attacked or threatened with other weapons (including knives), attacked without a weapon (hit or kicked), and threatened without a weapon.

The results showed that while it is not uncommon for victims of rape or attempted rape suffer injuries, few of these injuries were inflicted after the victim took protective actions. Resistance was rarely followed by the assailant inflicting further injury on the victim.

The researchers also studied specific self-protection actions to determine which actions are most effective. Some of the self-protection actions included were: victim attacked offender with gun, victim attacked offender with other weapons such as a knife, victim attacked without a weapon (hit, kicked, etc.), victim struggled, victim yelled at offender, victim ran away, victim called police, victim tried to attract attention, and victim cooperated or pretended to.

The results found that, “no form of victim resistance was associated with significantly higher risk of rape completion than non-resistance.” The most effective tactics for avoiding rape completion were:

a) Running or driving away/hiding/locking door

b) Attracting attention/calling for help

c) Physically struggling

d) Unarmed attacks on the rapist

This is very much in line with what we teach at IMPACT; if you can safely leave the situation, do so (prevention), if you can’t safely leave, use verbal techniques first (use your voice), and use physical skills as a last resort. These self-protective actions reduce the risk of rape by 86%.

Katie Skibbe, IMPACT Chicago Instructor-in-training

Interrupting Creepy Behavior

I entered the subway and saw a well-dressed young man, white shirt, tie, dark pants, with a small backpack, who would not have caught my attention, except he looked like he was going to speak to me, then thought better of it (maybe he wanted directions). I sat down on a bench nearby and then saw him engage a pretty, young woman. I heard him ask her name, she answered, he stuck out his hand, which she shook briefly, and he started asking her personal questions. My senses went on high alert and I stared hard at the young woman (his back was now to me). She widened her eyes at me in panic mode and I instantly stood up and said in a loud voice: “Hey Sue! [the name I heard her give him] Come over and sit by me!" She hurried over, while he stayed where he was, a few yards from us. I whispered my name to her, and we proceeded to talk as if we were old friends. When the train arrived, he stayed on the platform. As benign as it sounds, the whole episode felt creepy. Sue, (not her actual name) was shaken, said she usually felt helpless in situations like that and was glad that I intervened. I told her I was a self-defense teacher and recommended a self-defense course at Center for Anti-Violence Education, which helps people set strong verbal boundaries, among other skills.

Ryn Hodes, Brooklyn NY, Trained as a self-defense teacher at Center for Anti-Violence Education and certified by NWMAF

IMPACT Chicago launches new website!

Check out the new IMPACT Chicago website!

• More photos
• Easier to navigate
• Direct link to our blog
• Now includes self-defense news and twitter feed

Thanks to Lisa Amoroso and Nate Tracy-Amoroso for creating the new website. Thanks to Martha Thompson for her continuing work on website content. And a big thanks to Amy Winston who developed the original website and kept it going for 15 years! To see more, go to impactchicago.org.

This is what I was put here to do

I joined IMPACT Chicago in 1990 or 1991 and am pretty certain that getting hit in the head a lot has nothing to do with not being able to remember which.  I attended a National Instructor Training in LA in the summer of 1992 and finished my certification as a suited instructor in the late fall of 1992.

In the past 22 years I have taught extensively in Chicago, and have done a lot of work in curriculum development as well.  I have traveled to San Francisco, Boston, DC, Indianapolis, St. Louis, and Jerusalem (and some other places as well) teaching IMPACT courses.  I am also very much in demand as a suited instructor trainer, and spends much of my mat time nowadays traveling to other chapters either training new instructors or doing follow up training for experienced instructors.

I have many years of martial arts training, competitive fighting experience, and many years of experience doing security work.  

A martial arts student of mine that worked for IMPACT Chicago recruited me into IMPACT.  I already had some years’ experience as a professional self-defense instructor, but saw the value of the IMPACT Full Force self-defense approach and signed on immediately after seeing my first graduation. The moment I first saw IMPACT at work I knew that this is what I was put here to do. I’ve known it every moment that I’ve been on the mat since.

I live in Madison, Wisconsin where, in my day job, I work in management at the University of Wisconsin Division of Information Technology (my staff call me the nerd herder but I’d never call myself that). I am married to Kate Washabaugh, a veterinarian in Madison, and an IMPACT Chicago graduate.  We have two young children.

In my free time, I am an excellent cook and a mediocre guitar player, and play ice hockey every chance I can get.

Mark Nessel, IMPACT Chicago Suited Instructor

Violence & Self-Defense in the Media

Media tells us who "the bad guy" is. He's the sinister stranger lurking in the shadows. He's the person who looks out of place, who is somehow different from us. He's the guy whom you can just look at and know he's up to no good. At least that's what popular media would have us believe.

In reality, these images and ideas have less to do with crime and more to do with our cultural beliefs about race, class, and gender. In our modern society, we are constantly swimming in a river of misleading media messages about who is dangerous, how they plan to attack us, and finally how few options we have to protect ourselves. As a result of this constant stream of misinformation, conversations about safety and self-defense have frequently been used to reinforce stereotypes about violence and both racial and class biases.

The truth about violence is that it usually originates closer to home. It's most often perpetuated by people we know, who usually build up to horrible behaviors one small step at a time in predictable patterns of escalation. Not every terrible thing can be prevented, but much of it can. The first step will be to educate ourselves about who "the bad guy" really is. Then we can learn strategies for keeping ourselves and our loved ones safe.

We are pleased to announce that IMPACT has already begun taking that first step. IMPACT has a 25+ year history of working with young women, teaching them the skills of self-defense and emotional resilience. Now we've expanded our interpersonal safety programming to include more focus on rape culture, media literacy, and messaging. Collectively, across all chapters, we have been speaking out about these issues at the following conferences:

• Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Assault Statewide Conference • The National Women's Martial Arts Self-Defense Instruction Conference • New Mexico Advocacy in Action • Vera Institute of Justice on Child Sexual Abuse and Children with Disabilities •

We know that in order to change the prevalence of intimidation, harassment, bullying, rape, domestic violence, and all the other horrors and tragedies that saturate our news outlets—that we must work together to change the conversations we have with our families, friends, and co-workers. As individuals shift language, perception, and behaviors, then the larger change will happen, too.

For thought provoking resources about shifting the dialogue:
Reframing the Conversation Around Domestic and Sexual Violence and Abuse by @EVB_NOW

"An Empowered View of Media": IMPACT Chicago blog post 8/4/2014

"Unsafe and Harassed in Public Spaces: A National Street Harassment Report" by Holly Kearl 
6/3/2014

 "The Language of Persuasion" by The Media Literacy Project
From IMPACT Safety, Columbus Ohio with content adapted from Alena Schaim, Executive
Director, Impact Personal Safety New Mexico