Upcoming classes
Active Bystander Skills for Interrupting Racism
Empowerment and Self-Defense for Trans People
Empowerment and Self-Defense for Asian-Americans
Empowerment and Self-Defense for Black People
Empowerment and Self-Defense for People of Color
Boundaries for the Pandemic (and the rest of life)
Safe at Work: De-escalation for Essential Workers
Safe Bars: De-Escalation for Hospitality Staff
About our classes
Defend Yourself has classes for everyone, no matter what your age or ability. Whether you’re dealing with street harassment, going off to college, healing from abuse, or meeting any other challenge, we offer skills you can use.
Live life with more confidence, more safety, more freedom, + more fun!
Join us to learn how to prevent and avoid harassment, attack, and abuse; how to stop a threatening situation with words; and physical strikes to use against common attacks.
- All of our classes are tailored to the life situations and experiences of the students.
- All of our classes are open to people of all abilities: You don’t have to be an athlete or a martial artist to help yourself be safer. All of our classes are held in wheelchair-accessible spaces. If there’s something else that would help you be able to participate, please let us know.
- All of our classes have limited sliding-scale spaces for those who can’t afford the full fee.
- And all of our classes are fun!
If you sign up for a class and are unable to make it, we’ll give you a partial credit toward another class. We’re unable to make refunds.
Active Bystander Skills for Interrupting Racism
Attacks on people of color, especially Black and Asian Americans, are spiking. We all can take action to interrupt verbal and physical hate and we all have concerns that can prevent us from getting involved. Skills are the antidote to those concerns. Join us to learn how to assess a situation and choose a response to reduce harm to the person targeted while keeping yourself safe.
We’ll cover:
- A social-justice framework for understanding the role of bystanders in interrupting oppression
- Reasons to get involved when you see a problem, and reasons not to
- Overcoming barriers to intervening
- The 5 steps of bystander intervention
- De-escalation basics
- 4 tools for intervening
Read more about our active bystander trainings in The Washington Post.
Who: Open to all genders age 14 and up. Maximum enrollment is 35.
When: Pick a session below; the workshop is 1.5 hours long.
How: Fee is $20, $35, or $50. Please contact us if you can’t afford $20 or if you can give more than $50.
Please let us know when you register what accommodations you may need (such as ASL or Spanish interpretation) or email us.
By registering, you agree to hold confidential other peoples experiences and stories shared in the session. For safety reasons, no recording is allowed, and the session will be closed to entry 10 minutes after it starts.
Class Dates
Empowerment and Self-Defense for Trans People
Offered in partnership with Heart to Hand
Empowerment and Self-Defense for Asian-Americans
With the pandemic, hate against Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders is rising. Join us to learn basic verbal and physical skills to help keep yourself safe.
We’ll cover:
- The 5 basic elements of boundary-setting
- How to bring the temperature down when someone is escalated
- 2 simple physical strikes for the worst-case situation
- and more!
NOTE: This workshop is for Asians, Asian-Americans, and Pacific Islanders. If you’re not A/PI and want to help stop hate crimes against A/PI people, please join us for Active Bystander Skills for Interrupting Racism.
Who: Open to women, trans men, and nonbinary/gender nonconforming people, age 16 and up, who identify as Asian-American or Pacific Islander. Maximum enrollment is 35.
How: Fee is $10, $20, or $30. Contact us if you can’t afford $10 or if you can give more than $30.
Please let us know when you register what accommodations you may need (such as ASL or Spanish interpretation) or email us.
By registering, you agree to hold confidential other peoples’ experiences and stories shared in the session. For safety reasons, no recording is allowed, and the session will be closed to entry 10 minutes after it starts.
Class Date
Thursday, August 27
7:00-8:30 pm EST
$10 minimum fee
Empowerment and Self-Defense for Black People
Black Americans are under attack. Join us to learn basic verbal and physical skills to help keep yourself safe.
We’ll cover:
- The 5 basic elements of boundary-setting
- How to bring the temperature down when someone is escalated
- 2 simple physical strikes for the worst-case situation
- and more!
NOTE: This workshop is for Black and African-American people. If you aren’t Black or African-American but you want to help stop racism, please join us for our Active Bystander training, or one of the other Empowerment Self-Defense workshops for people of color.
Who: Open to women, trans men, and nonbinary/gender nonconforming people, age 16 and up, who identify as Black or African-American. Maximum enrollment is 35.
How: Fee is $10, $20, or $30. Contact us if you can’t afford $10 or if you can give more than $30.
Please let us know when you register what accommodations you may need (such as ASL or Spanish interpretation) or email us.
By registering, you agree to hold confidential other peoples’ experiences and stories shared in the session. For safety reasons, no recording is allowed, and the session will be closed to entry 10 minutes after it starts.
Class Date
Wednesday, September 9
7:00-8:30 pm
$10 minimum fee
Empowerment and Self-Defense for People of Color
People of color in the U.S. are targeted for verbal and physical hate at much higher rates than white people are. Join us to learn basic skills to help keep yourself safe.
We’ll cover:
- The 5 basic elements of boundary-setting
- How to bring the temperature down when someone is escalated
- 2 simple physical strikes for the worst-case situation
- and more!
NOTE: This workshop is for people of color. If you’re white and want to help, please join us for our workshop on Active Bystander Skills for Interrupting Racism.
Who: Open to women, trans men, and nonbinary/gender nonconforming people, age 16 and up, who identify as a person of color. Maximum enrollment is 35.
How: Fee is $10, $20, or $30. Contact us if you can’t afford $10 or if you can give more than $30.
Please let us know when you register what accommodations you may need (such as ASL or Spanish interpretation) or email us.
By registering, you agree to hold confidential other peoples’ experiences and stories shared in the session. For safety reasons, no recording is allowed, and the session will be closed to entry 10 minutes after it starts.
Class Date
Tuesday, September 8
7:00-8:30 pm EST
$10 minimum fee
Boundaries for the Pandemic (and the rest of life)
Boundaries are crucial to keeping ourselves safe physically and emotionally. During the pandemic, boundaries are more important than ever for several reasons, including that they can help stop the spread of the virus, and that they can help us deal with new situations — like being with the people we live with much more, or facing different kinds of demands at work.
Keeping physical distance and respecting our own needs help us and everyone else stay safe and healthy. Join us to learn:
- Why boundaries matter and why they’re hard to set,
- 5 simple steps to setting a boundary,
- How to get centered and grounded before you say what you need,
- 4 basic strategies to communicate a clear message, and
- Lots of practice!
Who: Open to all genders age 15 and up. Maximum enrollment is 35.
When: Pick a session below; the workshop is 1.5 hours long.
How: Fee is $20, $35, or $50. Please contact us if you can’t afford $20 or if you can give more than $50.
Please let us know when you register what accommodations you may need (such as ASL or Spanish interpretation) or email us.
By registering, you agree to hold confidential other peoples’ experiences and stories shared in the session. For safety reasons, no recording is allowed, and the session will be closed to entry 10 minutes after it starts.
Class Dates
Safe at Work: De-escalation for Essential Workers
If you deal with the public in your job, you’re probably facing more than the usual number of problematic customers/clients/patients during the pandemic. Join us to learn de-escalation skills for dealing with people who are angry, escalated, refuse to wear a mask, unpredictable, or otherwise creating problems for you at work.
Youll learn about:
- When to choose to de-escalate
- 5 steps to effectively de-escalate
- The assertive alternative
- Working with the fight-flight-freeze response
- Organizational strategies
- And more!
Who: Open to anyone who works with the public. Maximum enrollment is 35.
When: Pick a session below; the workshop is 2 hours long.
How: Fee is $20, $35, or $50. Please contact usif you can’t afford $20 or if you can give more than $50.
Please let us know when you register what accommodations you may need (such as ASL or Spanish interpretation) or email us.
By registering, you agree to hold confidential other peoples’ experiences and stories shared in the session. For safety reasons, no recording is allowed, and the session will be closed to entry 10 minutes after it starts.
This training can also be tailored to your workplace. Please contact us if you’d like a custom workshop for your organization or business.
Class Dates
Sunday, September 20
4:30-6:30 pm EST
$20 minimum fee
Safe Bars: De-Escalation for Hospitality Staff
co-sponsored with Focus on Health (FOH) and Safe Bars
The pandemic has brought with it an enormous surge in the number of people giving hospitality workers a hard time. Join us to learn de-escalation skills for dealing with people who refuse to wear a mask, spew blatant racism or sexism, are out-of-control angry, or otherwise creating problems for you at work.
In this experiential workshop tailored to the hospitality industry, you’ll learn:
- When to choose to de-escalate
- 5 steps to effectively de-escalate
- The assertive alternative
- Working with the fight-flight-freeze response
- Organizational strategies
- And more!
Who: Open to everyone who works in the hospitality industry. Maximum enrollment is 35.
When: Pick a session below; the workshop is 2 hours long.
How: Fee is $20, $35, or $50. Please contact us if you can’t afford $20 or if you can give more than $50.
Please let us know when you register what accommodations you may need (such as ASL or Spanish interpretation) or email us.
By registering, you agree to hold confidential other peoples’ experiences and stories shared in the session. For safety reasons, no recording is allowed, and the session will be closed to entry 10 minutes after it starts.
This training can also be tailored to your workplace. Please contact us if you’d like a custom workshop for your organization or business.
Class Dates
Don’t see what you want?
Please sign up for our newsletter, and we’ll let you know when workshops are scheduled.
In the meantime, if you’d like some training in personal safety and self-protection skills, you can bring us to you! If you have any group (friends, neighborhood, workplace, faith group, club/team, etc.), we’ll customize a workshop to your needs – and we can do it online.
