Personal safety is important, but sometimes you need help. These individuals and organizations provide help and resources for those looking to prevent assault, recover from assault, or organize with others to eradicate assault.
King County Sexual Assault Resource Center website has a lot of information, including educational material, for both adults and children.
NW Network of Bi, Trans, Lesbian and Gay Survivors of Abuse
Violence Against Women online resources and Bureau of Justice Statistics for reports on violence and interventions.
The Coalition Ending Gender-Based Violence, New Beginnings, LifeWire and DAWN websites have extensive information about domestic violence, shelters, safety, and counseling services, and they are all local King County services. Merril Cousin of the Coalition Ending Gender-Based Violence has put together an excellent overview document of the various domestic violence and sexual assault services available in King County.
The Wilderness Awareness School in Duvall, WA makes this list because they offer programs that include awareness training. While they focus on nature and wilderness skills, the awareness practice they offer is applicable to your safety. They offer this free pamphlet as a sample of their teaching material.
Northwest Family Life provides counseling, advocacy and support to those in communities of faith dealing with domestic violence.
Seattle Police Department does not offer a self-defense class, but does offer 3 hour Personal Safety seminars about once a month.
Strategic Living strives to provide a wide range of class offerings, but sometimes your schedule just can’t seem to work with class times. These other schools and teachers offer good classes, and are personally recommended by us.
The Feminist Karate Union (where Strategic Living founder Joanne Factor trains) began in 1971 as a self-defense class, and transformed into a karate school. All its teachers are well grounded in practical and effective self defense as well as the art of karate. 206-325-3878.
Seven Star Women’s Kung Fu offers self-defense classes each quarter and by arrangement.
Debbie Leung in Olympia, WA is one of the original teachers of our generation, as well as author of Self Defense: The Womanly Art of Self-Care Intuition and Choice (the best book on women’s self-defense).
Kerry Copeland of Personal Safety Concepts teaches through Seattle Integrated Martial Arts and by request.
Online resources:
Home Alive taught self-defense in Seattle for many years. Some of their instructors still teach as a small volunteer collective; they can be contacted at info@teachhomealive.org. And you can find their curriculum at https://www.teachhomealive.org.
Violence Against Women online resources and Bureau of Justice Statistics for reports on violence and interventions.
Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network
Center for Disease Control information on sexual assault and it’s effects.
It is rare that I find a self-defense book of this quality (and, believe me, I LOOK). Even more exceptional is that’s it is readily accessible on the web, and free to download. Even if you won’t admit to being either feminist or activist, Self-Care and Self-Defense Manual for Feminist Activists is ideal for the woman who sees herself as engaged and making a difference in today’s world.
Focus on Children’s Safety:
King County Sexual Assault Resource Center, Yello Dyno, Stop It Now!, and Darkness 2 Light all have educational material and other resource links. ACT and Yello Dyno also offer educational materials and curriculum for parents and educators on boundary setting skills appropriate for various age groups.
Internet safety: visit NetSmartz for education and games for kids of all ages.
Safety Resources Across the USA
Maybe you’ll be moving soon, or your daughter is off to college, or your experience taking a self-defense class was so awesome you urge all your friends to do the same (but they live in Chicago). Here is a list of other really solid classes across the USA.
First, how do you find a good class? These three organizations offer excellent guidelines:
The National Women’s Martial Arts Federation certifies a select group of self-defense teachers. All of these instructors are highly qualified; in fact, a number of them are founders of modern women’s self-defense.
The Association of Women’s Self Defense Advancement also maintains a list of self-defense instructors, as does the Empowerment Self-Defense Alliance.
Girls Fight Back! based in Denver, Colorado, provides speakers to colleges.
DomesticShelters.org has an online library of pertinent articles.
The Safety Chick site has interesting and short articles on (duh) safety.
I Believe You contains a wealth of information on resisting sexual abuse in adults.
More specifically, these are schools with which Strategic Living’s owner Joanne Factor is personally familiar and highly recommends:
Thousand Waves Martial Arts and Self-Defense in Chicago, IL. (Two recent articles from their newsletter, one on non-violence and self defense and the other on self defense and activism, articulate the spirit of active non-violence.)
Center for Anti-Violence Education in Brooklyn, NY
Five Elements Martial Arts (FEMA) in Minneapolis, MN
Sun Dragon Martial Arts and Self-Defense in Austin, TX
Hand-to-Hand Kajukenbo in Oakland, CA
Other schools whose programs have good reputations:
Wen-do Self-Defense for Women offers classes primarily in Toronto and Vancouver, Canada
