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Providing employees with violence prevention training can teach them essential life skills that connect people to their power, not their fear. Sadly, violence is a very real fear and concern in everyone's life today. We are impacted at home, at work, in public places and while traveling on company business. Ultimately, violence impacts businesses as staff make choices that alter their behavior, work habits, hours and travel plans to keep themselves and their families safe. Violence – and fear of violence – can impact retention and productivity in the workplace. But it doesn't have to.
Our trainings teach prevention and avoidance strategies, as well as conflict resolution skills when faced with violence. Thousand Waves trainings are team-building experiences where participants hone skills they have and learn new ones in a safe and supportive environment.
Help your employees feel safe and in control. Show them that you care about them and their families on the job, at home, while traveling, in business and throughout life. Empower them with violence prevention tools that include communication strategies, positioning skills, mental and physical strategies and healing resources.
Personal Safety and Empowerment: Work, Home, Travel
This comprehensive introductory program for workplace settings addresses safety issues both inside and outside the workplace. Participants learn how to accurately assess areas of danger in their lives and increase their awareness, self-confidence, and safety. Our model includes mental strategies to help you think clearly under stress; assertive communication skills to help you set a limit or de-escalate a tense situation; and positioning strategies to limit your engagement and reduce vulnerability. We also teach simple and effective strikes and kicks to stun an assailant if avoidance is impossible. Finally, we share concrete tools for intervening: how to prevent or interrupt violence you witness while staying safe.
Travel Safety
Traveling for work brings up special safety concerns. This seminar will cover the nuts and bolts of staying safe while navigating in unfamiliar environments; visiting clients at home; working late hours; staying in hotels; experiencing jet lag; and transitioning between settings such as car to office, cab to hotel, lobby to hotel room.
Stress Management and Wellness
Stress impacts our day to day well being, and can lead to negative effects on physical and emotional health, both short and long term. While we cannot stop life from being challenging, we can change our habits to decrease stress and improve our health. In this active workshop, participants will identify arenas in which they wish to make changes, and practice a variety of self-care techniques. Some techniques can be done at a work station in only a minute or two, others are ways to use short breaks during the day to increase calm or build energy. This fun and practical program allows each participant to create an attainable self-care plan unique to their needs and goals.
Communication for Harmony and Safety
This class teaches both theory and practice of assertive boundary setting, de-escalation, and intervention strategies, including creating and maintaining a culture of respect and safety at work. Through small group role plays, reflection, and large group discussion, participants will consider strategies for situations across the spectrum of violence: with strangers, acquaintances and intimates, and ranging from mild to dangerous situations. Whether they are new to the concepts or individuals with a lot to share, participants will leave with new tools and renewed commitment to the effectiveness of peaceful communication.
Women's Safety Issues
Violence affects everybody, but women face a much higher risk for certain types of violence, such as stalking, sexual assault, domestic violence, and workplace sexual harassment. Experiencing violence and living in fear of violence can limit the ability of women employees to effectively do their job and contribute to their fullest potential. Whether a woman is limiting her life due to fear of violence, currently experiencing it, or struggling to heal from a past episode, this workshop will teach the skills needed to form a plan and take action for safety.
LesbianGayBiTransQ: Keeping Ourselves and Our Communities Safe
LGBTQ people are at a higher risk for certain types of harassment, hate-based violence, and assault. This workshop teaches mental, communication, positioning, defensive and healing strategies for dealing with many types of heterosexist violence; violence within same sex relationships; and other situations of disrespect, harassment, abuse and assault. Taught in a manner that emphasizes both individual responses and group efforts, this workshop is empowering and an effective community-building tool.
Keeping Kids Safe from Violence: a Workshop for Adults who Live / Work with Young People
This violence prevention class identifies the types of violence most likely to affect children: stranger danger, bullying, and violence from adults known to children. Because it can be frightening to consider these types of violence, we'll work as a group to address the issues, present strategies for dealing with each of them, and give guidance for talking with children about violence.
When You're a Witness to Violence: How to Help without Getting Hurt
Witnessing violence is frightening, and many of those watching may want to help, but aren't sure what they can do-or whether it would help. Yet violence can often be reduced or stopped altogether by the timely and skilled intervention of a concerned individual. This workshop teaches principles of safe intervention to use in public spaces, at work or school, and among friends and family. Intervening can prevent violence before it occurs, stop prejudiced speech in its tracks, or interrupt a physical assault. Whether witnessing an argument in your home or watching the participants in a fender bender angrily yelling at each other, participants will have tools they can use to take action.
For Corporate Clients
Workshops are three hours in length and are taught by a team of professional trainers. They can accommodate up to 30 people. The fee is $675, including educational materials and handouts.
Additional Options: We can provide workshops of different lengths. We also offer a non-participatory, theater-style demonstration format for large conferences and conventions. Companies that cannot fully sponsor a program for their staff can develop a cost-sharing plan with their employees. Or a group of employees can sponsor a program directly on a fee-per-participant basis.
What to expect: Participants will practice mental, verbal, and physical tools in a participatory seminar. Through a mix of small group discussion, role play practices, and physical techniques, participants will learn a variety of strategies to employ when faced with stressful situations, conflict, violence or assault. Physical techniques taught in these workshops are easy to learn, and do not depend on the size, age, or athletic ability of the participant. Individuals with physical or other limitations can expect the instructors to give guidance in any adjustments that need to be made. Handouts are provided for each participant to reinforce the skills practiced in the workshop.
What to wear: Participants are welcome to wear their everyday work clothes, recognizing that they need to be able to use these strategies no matter what they are wearing. However, some will feel more comfortable practicing the physical skills in more comfortable attire (e.g. non-binding clothing, pants rather than a skirt, sturdy shoes, etc.).
To arrange a program for your organization or for more information, contact:
Marie O'Brien,
Director of Violence Prevention Programs
email: violenceprevention@thousandwaves.org
phone: 773-472-7663.