For those who don't know, radKIDS is a program which empowers kids to trust their instincts in a variety of self defense scenarios, including stranger abduction and childhood sexual abuse. We train kids to strategize, physically defend themselves, and then get to safety.
When I wrote the diary about radKIDS last week, a few people said they were going to put in a good word for radKIDS in their local school districts. Erin Runnion, who runs The Joyful Child Foundation, is successfully getting radKIDS into OCUSD, and she gave me a few pointers today on how she has done it.
Her first suggestion is to speak to Stephen Daley who is the creator and Executive Director of radKIDS. You can contact him through the website. If you haven't seen a radKIDS class in action, you can use their program locator and find a local class to observe.
This clip from the Early Show a few years ago gives a good intro into the program of radKIDS.
The next thing to do is give a presentation to the PTA and/or the teaching staff at a school. Erin says that she usually hears it is better to go through the PTA first. This presentation is a short, typically 15 minute presentation that introduces radKIDS to people who have not heard of it before. The radKIDS curriculum is already being taught in school districts around the country during regular PE classes. It is a very active program so that is the place it fits into regular school hours the easiest.
Erin has put together several talks which introduce radKIDS and which seek to bring the discussion of child sexual abuse out into the open where we can finally break the secrecy which allows the abuse to continue. One of her talks is entitled Recognizing Predatory Behavior. It is designed to help people realize that a predator often is well-liked by the community and there is no visual way to tell if someone is a predator or not. There is however, recognizable predatory behavior which we can all learn to spot. She hopes to have these talks available through her website by September, so keep checking back. If you live in southern California I'm authorized to give these talks for free.
Once you have the interest of your local school district, you need to train teachers to present the material to students. This entails fundraising, or grant writing. In southern California, it costs $1000 for a 4 person team to be trained to do radKIDS. This includes 2 instructors and 2 ambassadors to spread the word to parents and the community at large. I'm told the equipment to run a class runs around $5000. This includes gear for students for the last day of class which is simulation and a red man suit for the instructor who will simulate with the students. This equipment will last at least 5 years. All the local radKIDS instructors in my area have been trained by The Joyful Child Foundation and we all use the same simulation equipment and rotate it from class to class.
In Erin's case she has spent several years first training a small group of teachers in one school in the district and then documenting the results of the classes. She next brought the program to the unified school district in an after school program. They have continued to document results and they are moving towards instituting the program district-wide.
I know that Stephen Daley has been part of implementing radKIDS in many districts, so he is an excellent resource.
As I wrote in the other diary, the thing I love about radKIDS is that it isn't fear based for the students. It is activity based, and it gives the kids a sense of their own ability to keep themselves safe. With 79 documented saves where radKIDS successfully resisted abduction, it is clear that kids do in fact have the ability to defend themselves and get away. In addition, when the kids actually practice self defense instead of just talking about it, it trains them to respond in an emergency situation instead of freezing.
I am a huge fan of radKIDS. As a child I was sexually abused by my grandfather. If I had gone through this training, I would have had the words to tell teachers what was happening to me. I would have had permission to tell. I want to fully disclose that I make money from teaching kids this class, and the radKIDS organization makes money certifying teachers. I do not make money from writing about radKIDS. I do that because I want to be the change I want to see in this world. Because I know that there will be those of you out there who want to help spread radKIDS into your community I hope this diary will be useful. I'll be glad to answer any questions you might have if I can.