The EMPOWERED Family Workshop helps you start a lifelong safety conversation with family members. Parents, caregivers and children who take our workshops experience better communication, reduced anxiety, and higher self-confidence.
Benefits of family-based IMPACT training
Most families know basics about safety, but kids, parents and caregivers have not learned how to respond appropriately in moments of fear or intimidation. The EMPOWERED Family workshop benefits both caregivers and children in numerous ways.
Enhanced communication
Open lines of dialogue around personal boundaries and safety. Start a lifelong conversation about what safety means to each member of your family and to your family as a whole.
Reduced stress and anxiety
Your worst parental nightmares may have been activated by media coverage of violence towards children. Putting a family strategy in place for authentic threats helps you separate genuine concern from nagging fear.
Increased self-confidence
Your kids are learning in an adrenalized state, not a fearful one. They feel better knowing they can talk to you about their concerns. They know what to do if approached in a hostile or unwelcome manner.
New strategies to deal with bullying
Your child will learn how to respond when he or she is targeted by a bully, as well as what to do when it’s happening to someone else. You will learn how to support your child if he or she is involved in bullying behavior.
EMPOWERED Family: How it works
On the first day of the workshop, adults and children are taught separately. Each group learns age-appropriate material and skills from an experienced IMPACT instructor. On the second day, families reunite and participate in scenarios using the verbal and physical techniques you both learned.
What kids learn
Kids learn and practice skills in scenarios such as:
- Talking to a trusted adult when they feel unsafe
- Responding to peer pressure
- Experiencing bullying or cruel social behavior
- Unwelcome attention from strangers and people they know
Young workshop participants also learn physical techniques to strike and escape in a potential abduction situation.
What adults learn
As a parent or caregiver, you will gain skills to protect yourself and support your child.
During interactive scenarios, your instructor will coach you in:
- Maintaining your composure in high-adrenaline situations, such as when your child reports potentially unsettling information
- Letting your child know you will do everything within your power to keep them safe
- Listening to and engaging with your child when you’re outside your comfort level
- Basic verbal dissuasion and simple, effective strikes to ward off a potential assault or threat to your family’s safety
Empowered Families say…
More EMPOWERED Family education options
EMPOWERED Child Workshop
We offer the same learning in the EMPOWERED Family Workshop in a standalone course for children six and older.
EMPOWERED Caregiver Workshop
The same training we provide for adults in the EMPOWERED Family Workshop is offered for people who are babysitters, nannies, extended family members or other caregivers for children.
