We were very fortunate to have Brie from Women's Self Defence Network come and deliver a course to some of the girls and their mentors on our programme.
The Girls’ Self Defence Programme is designed to teach the girls basic physical and verbal techniques, reinforce assertion and boundary setting skills, and offer age-appropriate information about issues of abuse for children. Games and stories were used throughout the course to reinforce discussion and the effectiveness of the skills learnt. Both the girls and mentors found it really enjoyable and beneficial. We are grateful to the Women's Self Defence Network for giving us their time and providing this fantastic opportunity. We would recommend it for any parents or caregivers who want to empower their daughters with this kind of knowledge.
The course covers the following topics:
- Confident Body Language
- Self Defence Stance
- Strong Voice
- Kicks
- Punches
- Blocks
- Vulnerable Points
- How to get out of Grabs
- Ground Defences
- Law of self Defence
- Verbal self defence
- Attracting attention and clear messages
- Trusting our instincts
- Bullying
- Gender stereotypes
- Dealing with fears and anger
- Sexual safety
- Primarily distinguishing between good and bad touching and strategies to deal with
- Identifying an attacker
- Naming the parts of the body
- Taking care of others (friends/siblings etc)
- Unwelcome or inappropriate touching. ‘Your body is your body and it belongs to you'
