Personal Safety and Self Defense for children, teens and adults

Success stories from children, teens, adults.

Success Stories

We have hundreds of success stories about students telling how the few hours of practice they received in our training has helped them be successful in dealing with difficult or dangerous situations. The following comments are typical.

From the mother of a teenage boy
"I felt more at ease in giving my teen son the independence he needed after taking your workshop!  In fact, your workshop set both of us free.  He just got a summer camp scholarship to spend 10 days at a college campus.  I would’ve had a very difficult time letting him go if it weren’t for your workshop. He’s reading your comic book before leaving though! You’re providing an amazing service and I’m so grateful that you’re part of my child’s village. "

 From the mother of a three-year-old
"When my little girl ran ahead of me at the store, a strange man, as a very bad joke, grabbed her arm and said, ‘You are so cute. I’ll take you away and you’ll never see your mother or father again.' Instead of freezing or bursting into tears, she did just what we’d practiced in your Parent-Child workshop. She made a stop sign with her hand and yelled,’NO!’ This startled him, and brought me running. Instead of being terrified, she was proud of herself."

From the mother of a five-year-old
"When we went in for our parent-teacher conference, the teacher told us that our daugher, who had previously been letting other kids boss her around constantly, had suddenly, immediately after taking your workshop, started setting boundaries with her friends in a very sweet way."

From an eight-year-old boy
"When I was riding my bike near my home, a man I didn't know told me I had to come over to him. I didn't have to worry because my body knew just what to do. I rode my bike quickly all the way home to safety and told my mom."

From the father of a teenager
"The Teenpower class taught my son how to be persistent in getting help rather than getting into a fight. An older boy started robbing his friend at a park, and he insisted that the very reluctant adult recreation worker get involved, which ended the attack."

From a woman who suddenly lost her sight two years before taking our workshop
"Taking the Fullpower class gave me back my belief in my own power. This is the first time since I went blind that I feel really good."

From an adult survivor of childhood sexual abuse
"The Fullpower evening sparked a domino effect of subtle but powerful validation inside myself that it is okay to say, ‘No!' and okay to protect myself."

From the father of an eight-year-old girl who took our Kidpower Family Workshop
"I was startled to hear that my small, quiet, normally shy daughter took charge when a game at her summer camp got out of hand. Some other kids were jumping on a counselor to the point of injuring her seriously. My daughter yelled at them until they stopped and then ran to fetch another counselor to help. When I asked her how come she knew how to do all this, she said, ‘I learned it in Kidpower!’"

From the family and friends of Polly Klass, the twelve-year-old girl who was kidnapped from a slumber party in Petaluma
"This award is to thank Kidpower for the work you do in helping children be safer and for teaching Kate and Gillian (the two girls who were with Polly when she was taken) in a way that validated the choices they made and that gave them more choices and confidence for the future." (Normally we do not identify our students, but this was a public award.)

From the father of a ten-year-old girl who was assaulted in her bedroom while her parents slept across the hall
"Your class is the best thing that happened to my daughter since her assault. She says, ‘Kidpower taught me I can be the boss of my own body.'"

From the mother of a young teenager
"After taking the Teenpower class, my son went from being terrified about starting high school to feeling excited."

From a nine year old girl who lives in the inner city
"A bully on the playground grabbed my hair and pulled me backwards. I stopped him with just one move. The yard duty teacher complemented me on how I took care of myself without being a bully too. She said she wished she knew how to do that."

From an adult survivor of childhood incest
"The Fullpower Intensive Women’s Training changed my life. I think about what I learned with you every single day. I gained the confidence to do so many things that I was too afraid to do before."

From a business woman
"I feel much safer going to the parking lot at night after I’ve had to work late. Fullpower has added so much to my peace of mind."

From a mother
"My daughter, who is now 12, took the Kidpower workshop three years ago. Recently, we moved to a smaller town to get away from the violence in the city. My daughter was very excited about going to her first formal dress-up dance at her new school. It must have been poorly supervised because a group of about 15 9th grade boys started playing a game where they captured girls by linking arms in a circle around them.

"The first time my daughter and her 7th grade friends were surrounded, they just moved away. They felt awkward about this 'game,' but this was their first time at a school dance and they didn’t know what to think. My daughter saw that three other girls who got captured later were disheveled and crying. She saw the boys pawing at the girls and making sexual remarks.

"Then she and her friends were surrounded again. This time, one boy grabbed our daughter from behind and tried to put his hand up her shirt. She stomped on his foot and elbowed him in the groin.

"This action broke the circle and my daughter and her friends were able to escape. It also stopped the behavior of the boys and they left all the girls alone for the rest of the dance. The story went through the school that my gentle 7th grade daughter had beaten up a 9th grade boy! She was a hero! A number of girls have come up to her to tell her how glad they were that she did what she did and to ask her for advice on what they might do.

"My husband and I have written a letter to the school describing the incident and demanding that preventative action be taken through better supervision of school events and training for both the boys and the girls. We believe that our daughter’s Kidpower training, even after three years, helped her handle an awful experience in a way which left her feeling empowered instead of helpless."

We also have testimonials from people who have learned how to pass self protection skills on to others.

From school principal
"The Kidpower teacher and parent education program has turned our school around. All our staff, parents, and teachers have a common language and set of skills that has greatly reduced bullying on all levels."

From a therapist who works with abuse survivors
"I give thanks for your training every time I have an adult client who has difficulties setting boundaries. Now I know how to practice these skills with people who need them desperately right in my office."

From a college counselor who saw our parent-child workshop
"I was able to add a self protection section to our college orientation program. And I taught my three-year-old niece to make a stop sign and yell ‘No’ if she’s scared. She used it a couple of days later in the park when some geese started chasing her. She was so thrilled that she challenged all the geese in the park."

From a middle school principal
"A series of three violent incidents within a couple of months including the kidnapping of a teacher and a knife assault on a student left all of our teachers at a loss about what to say to our students. Your teacher training helped us to get clear and to feel as if we do have the power to help young people deal with most violent situations."

From the leader of a parent’s co-op
" Your presentation gave us hope that we can help our children be safe in what sometimes seems like a very frightening world."

From a martial artist
"Seeing how you worked with your students profoundly changed my way of teaching. I feel as if my work is now much more experiential and success-based."

From a school teacher
"I feel much more prepared to talk about these scary issues in a matter of fact and clear way. I know how to show my students what to do instead of just telling them."