About the Instructor:

Welcome! Thank you so much for joining me and taking steps to keep yourself and your family safe. I am Brittany Moore Schneider, a mother, wife, daughter, sister, and the owner of "Safety Sister". My passion is empowering women to keep themselves and their families safe. The term "sister" refers to the sisterhood that comes along with being a woman and the responsibility that comes along with educating one another.

My background is in psychology and health education, and I am a certified safety and self-defense educator. My own personal safety and the safety of my family have always been a high-priority in my life.

In the best-selling book "The Gift of Fear", a young woman by the name of Kelly is coerced into letting a man into her apartment. Kelly is subsequently raped and gets away only to discover that this man had raped and murdered other women. In the book, Kelly then goes on to say "The weird thing is, I'm actually less afraid of walking around now than I was before it happened. But there must be an easier way for people to learn." "What saved Kelly's life can save yours too. In her courage, in her commitment to listen to her intuition, in her determination to make sense of it, in her passion to be free of unwarranted fear, I saw that the information could be shared not just with victims but those who need never become victims at all. I want this book to help you be one of those people." (The Gift of Fear)

The book and the story of Kelly struck a very familiar chord with me on a personal level. Growing up, I was told the eerily similar story of how my mother was raped, by a man who coerced his way into her apartment. She got away later to find out he had murdered his other victims. I don't remember the first time I learned of her attack. I simply remember always knowing about it. My mother made sure my sister and I knew what had happened. The purpose was never to scare us or to cause us to live in fear. The purpose was to teach us that there are violent and bad people in the world, and that we needed to learn from her experience and others experiences to prevent us from ever experiencing something so horrific.

When I became a mother, it was clear that I no longer could simply look out for myself. I needed to teach my daughter, my niece, my friends, my family, and all women how to protect themselves. As women, we have an obligation to look out for one another and share the knowledge we've obtained. My hope is, that by the end of this course, you will feel prepared and confident in your ability to keep yourself safe.

Introduction:

For a lot of people, it is easiest to believe that nothing bad can or ever will happen. And, in an ideal world, that would be the case. It's important to know that any one of us could be a potential target so being proactive in your education and awareness is the key to prevention.

A lot of what we discuss may make you a bit uncomfortable or a little uneasy, but I promise it is better to be knowledgeable and aware than to overlook and assume everything will always be alright. We prepare for fire with fire drills. We prepare for death with wills and directives. We eat right and exercise to prepare for a long, healthy life. Why should our personal safety be any different?

Safety can mean a lot of different things. There's food safety, occupational safety, weather safety, etc. However, what we will discuss simply focuses on keeping yourself and your family safe from dangerous people and dangerous situations.

At the completion of this course you can expect to know the difference between self-defense and self-protection and why it's so important, the significance of confidence and assertiveness, ways to secure your home, your car, and your personal space while on-the-go, teaching your children about strangers and creating body boundaries, how to talk to teens about sensitive topics, and what to do in the event of an attack.

Our mission is to teach children, teens, and adults how to recognize, prevent, and defend against potentially dangerous situations. The purpose is never to instill fear, but rather to educate, inform, and instill awareness and confidence.