Everyone deserves to feel safe in their body, their relationships, and their community. IMPACT builds that safety through practical, inclusive self-defense programs for individuals and communities; organizational tools that help disrupt abuse before it starts; and educational programs that give young people the knowledge to recognize healthy relationships, understand consent, and advocate for themselves.
IMPACT is dedicated to ending violence and abuse by supporting the leadership of those most affected. We work to build a healing-centered, social justice-driven world where everyone has access to safe and healthy relationships.
IMPACT works to prevent violence and abuse by giving people the skills to advocate for healthy relationships, sexual respect, and personal and community safety.
IMPACT has been teaching solutions for safe living since 1971. We provide realistic personal safety training that gives people the skills to respond appropriately to threatening situations in the moment of fear or intimidation. We also collaborate with schools and organizations to create programs that proactively prevent abuse. IMPACT’s prevention programs emphasize giving people the tools to manage their stress responses so they can intervene effectively when they observe risky situations. Too often abuse goes unchallenged because people don’t feel safe speaking up. IMPACT programs help people increase their ability to safely advocate for themselves and others.
Realistic Scenarios, De-escalation Skills & Rebuilding Safety and Confidence
Realistic Scenarios
Our self-defense classes simulate scenarios of threat, intimidation and violence perpetrated by strangers and people we know. Classes are taught by a team of two instructors, one of whom takes on the role of an aggressor. This instructor wears a full suit of body armor so students can safely defend themselves using the same force needed in a real attack.
A Fight Avoided is
a Fight Won
Physical self-defense is always a last resort. Students learn verbal skills to de-escalate conflict and avoid unnecessary violence. Many assailants use verbal threats to intimidate people, so IMPACT teaches students to stay calm and respond effectively to harassment.
Building Confidence,
Healing from Trauma
IMPACT gives people the opportunity to be effective and successful in the face of fear. Having this experience has helped people heal from past trauma and take on new challenges.
Stories of Preventing, Healing, and Transforming through Empowerment Self-Defense
I was on a 4th date with a charming grad student I met at a lecture. We were sipping wine in his apartment when a dumb joke led to a sweet first kiss. The first kiss quickly and aggressively turned into an attempt at rape.
When Lilian Calderon participated in an IMPACT workshop last Fall she never believed that only two hours of training would give her what she needed to stop an assault. Lilian participated in the workshop as part of a retreat for the staff of Renewal House, a Boston-area domestic violence program. "When I think about the day we took the training I remember saying to myself, 'I don't understand why we're doing this.' It was fun to learn but I didn't think I'd ever need it," she said. Then, just before nine one Thursday morning, Lilian was walking to work from the subway when a man with a knife came up behind her and cut the straps of her handbag.
After taking our IMPACT:Ability course, a woman with an intellectual disability used the skills she learned in class to try to prevent a male staff member from sexually assaulting her.
My 6-year old son Jack participated in a two-day KidSafe program. The class addressed a variety of issues from bullying to how to react to unsafe strangers. Instructors gave very clear and specific instructions, demonstrated recommended behaviors, and ran students through a series of enactments, each scenario building on the previous one so that all the kids could follow along.
Before my 16-year-old daughter Jamie traveled to Ghana to take part in a veterinary assisting program this summer I insisted she take an IMPACT class. As her Mom I knew she was empathic and giving, and that she did not know how to say no or set boundaries.
I am the mother of two eighteen-year-old daughters with Autism Spectrum Disorder who attend the Boston Public Schools. Through their amazing experience of participating in just one IMPACT session, I was able to see first hand that the skills, training and scenarios really work. Seeing my daughters pick up the skills quickly, and re-enact each scenario to show what they learned was one of the most gratifying feelings I could have as a parent of young adults with intellectual disabilities.
Zayda Gonzalez had just parked her car when a man rushed toward her and tried to open the door. She hit the lock button but the man persisted, grabbing the door handle and trying to force it open.
Recently a friend and I were leaving a bar late in the evening. My friend stopped outside the bar to have a cigarette before getting into my car. There was an obviously intoxicated patron standing outside within earshot arguing with Security.
The night I graduated from my LGBTQ Basics class I took the T home. My girlfriend had come to my graduation and we were smiling and joking about all of my new moves. We sat down on the train and something not so uncommon happened: a man approached and began insulting us. He called us "homos." He looked disgusted and he actually spit before he eventually got off the train. This wasn't the first time that I was harassed and I expect that it won't be the last. What was unique about this experience is that it happened AFTER my IMPACT class, and for the first time in my life, I didn't feel afraid.
What I learned from IMPACT is the importance of following my gut and not being afraid to say "NO!!!" or in this case, to say something, maybe quieter, but to LISTEN to my inner voice and to feel comfortable setting boundaries. As a mother, I needed to feel comfortable being bolder to protect my kids and not worry so much if I offended anyone. IMPACT did that for me. The class did not make me more suspicious, just more aware.
Beyond its self-defense classes, IMPACT Boston offers a wide range of educational programs designed to equip students of all abilities and community leaders with the knowledge and the skills to lead healthy lives and prevent abuse. Our healthy relationships curriculum provides youth with the information they need to identify unsafe behaviors and dynamics, builds emotional awareness and communication skills, and empowers students to set their own standards and boundaries. Our sex education curriculum equips students with the information and tools they need to have healthy sexual connections if they choose to, while avoiding unwanted outcomes. Our online safety curriculum helps youth and adults with disabilities stay safe and avoid scams while using the internet. IMPACT also works with schools and community organizations to develop comprehensive abuse prevention policies and plans
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