Our programs for staff and clients of non-profit agencies and teachers and students within school settings teach practical and effective skills to help them deal with violence they may face. Staff are impacted by violence and fears of violence just as much as everyone else, and it can impact their ability to work effectively and efficiently. Additionally, staff that provides direct service to clients can internalize the violence clients experience and suffer secondary trauma. Teachers who witness the effects of violence on their students also suffer stress. And when stress builds in the workplace, staff may experience conflict among their colleagues, as well as burnout.

Staff and teachers can also share violence prevention skills with their clients and students, broadening their options for facing violence in their lives. And a fun, team-building program-at your site or ours-can provide a needed break from routine while it teaches non-violent conflict resolution skills to use in the office, at home, and in public spaces.

The Five Fingers of Self-Defense: Violence Prevention Basics for Adults

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.

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Keeping Kids Safe from Violence: a Workshop for Adults who Live / Work with Young People

This workshop 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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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The Five Fingers of Self-Defense: Violence Prevention Basics for Teens

Teens have special needs around safety issues, and Thousand Waves has developed engaging and effective programs for young people. Using the Five Fingers model (Think-Yell-Run-Fight-Tell), our programs teach safety skills that address violence prevention at school, home, and everywhere in between. We begin by addressing the safety issues that affect them, and teaching methods to avoid and prevent this violence. Participants learn how and when to set appropriate boundaries and practice using their voices effectively to confront violent behavior.

Students also learn self-calming techniques to cool down before reacting in anger, as well as ways to extricate themselves from volatile situations by defusing violence. Finally, we teach simple self-defense strikes and kicks to disable an attacker. This program teaches students to perceive danger sooner and respond effectively when faced with threatening or violent situations from strangers and people they know.

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This comprehensive course covers a wide range of violence prevention tools and can be taught in a series of weekly sessions or in a condensed 2-day form. Participants will discuss and practice skills that cover a variety of topics including verbal assertiveness, de-escalation, dealing with harassment, violence in relationships, safe and effective intervention, evasion and positioning, easy-to-learn strikes and kicks, releases from holds, and dealing with an armed assailant.

As a sister non-profit organization, Thousand Waves is committed to making our violence prevention trainings available to other non-profit agencies. Therefore the base fees for our programs are reduced for non-profits and schools.

Workshops: The non-profit workshop fee is $525, including educational materials and handouts.

Workshops are three hours in length and are taught by a team of professional trainers.
They can accommodate up to 30 people.
Teen groups must include at least two adult staff who also will participate.

12 Hour Course: The course is designed in modular components, so it can be run as a weekend intensive (two 6-hour sessions), or in three 4-hour sessions, four 3-hour sessions, or six 2-hour sessions.

The course can accommodate between 10 and 20 participants.
The fee for non-profits is $110 per person, including course handbooks.

Scholarship Assistance is available for organizations that cannot afford the full fee.

Additional Options: Many non-profit agencies and schools sponsor programs for their staff or clients. Some choose to do a cost-sharing plan with their employees for staff programs. A third option is for a group of employees to sponsor a program directly. We can also provide workshops of different lengths.

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