4 Saturdays 1-4pm

April 26 | May 3 | May 10 | May 17

Cost:$240.00 per person with a discount of 50% to add someone from the same household.

Learn boundary setting, personal safety and self defense.  This class will teach you the basics, and add to existing skills, for your personal empowerment.  Attacks on the LGBTQIA+ community are up in 2024 by about 20% according to FBI statistics collected by HRC (Human Rights Campaign). Lifetime incidence of sexual assault on the LGBTQIA+ community is reported to be higher than that of the general population. This 4 class (each class is 3 hours) workshop will include information about, and practice with, skills on mental preparedness, verbal assertiveness and physical self protection. 

This class is open to all LGBTQIA+ identified people 12-years and older.  If someone is younger than 12, or concerned about accessibility, please reach out to Heidi with questions/concerns. Young teens do best with this content when they attend with a supportive adult with whom they can process the content afterwards.  In this workshop, participants will learn skills for defending against stranger and acquaintance assaults:

Mental Skills:
Cultivate self-confidence and hone personal power
Set Boundaries
Use counter strategies for attacker mentality.

Verbal Skills:
Use your voice effectively
Effectively use deescalation techniques
Employ assertive, direct language.

Physical Skills:
All physical skills are carefully selected to be usable by a smaller, less strong defender against a larger, stronger attacker. Most skills can be modified for differing ability levels.  We will work with physical skills designed to render the attacker unable to continue the assault—defenses targeted at the most vulnerable areas of most people’s bodies. We will also learn how to block physical blows and how to escape some common body grabs 
This class is taught in a supportive, engaging, truthful manner consistent with breaking down patterns of invalidation or self doubt.  In this class survivors of assault are never blamed for their experiences, as the responsibility for assault always resides with the person committing the offense. We are all worth fighting for! Most participants experience a sense of increased confidence in their sense of their own rights and their ability to set, hold, and reinforce the autonomy of their own body and mind.

I’m glad you are interested in a class on self-defense and personal safety!

Please fill out this short informational form for me and click SUBMIT. You will then be redirected to the Mix Studios website where you may register for the class.

Your Instructors

This class will be taught by Heidi Sproull LMSW, and Anika Sproull, LLMSW.

Heidi Sproull, LMSW, is a trauma specialized psychotherapist who holds a blackbelt in Jujutsu and a brown belt in Judo and has taught self defense for 30 years.  Heidi is a sex educator and the creator and author of INFORMED ADOLESCENCE: Middle School Curriculum with lessons on Teen Resilience, Sexual Health and Boundary Setting & Personal Safety, which will be released by Rowman and Littlefield in March of 2025. 

Anika Sproull, LLMSW, is a crisis response social worker with prior experience as a wilderness therapy field guide. She has been a self defense instructor for a decade and grew up practicing and competing in Judo. In addition to community classes, Anika creates tailored trainings for businesses and organizations that focus on personal safety and empowerment within the framework of workplace policies.