The Safety Team

The Safety Team is located in Vermont & has offered empowerment self-defense classes to girls and women for 20 years.

We work towards the empowerment of all women and the end of rape culture.

08/27/2026

Free Mind-Body Trauma Recovery Program this fall! 🧡
Our Ther**eutic Empowerment Self-Defense (TESD™) program, developed by Dr. Christine DiBlasio, helps trauma survivors reclaim a sense of safety, confidence, and empowerment through an integrated mind-body approach.

Series happening this fall:

• Teens & Young Adults: Oct 2, 9, 16 & 23, 4:00-6:00pm

• Adults: Oct 30, Nov 6 & 13, 2:00-4:30pm

• Free Online Trauma Information & Empowerment Circle: Tuesdays, Sept 15-Dec 1

This program is free, thanks to a grant from the Vermont Center for Crime Victim Services.

Want to join us? Email [email protected] or visit the link in our bio to learn more and register.

08/20/2026

Free Virtual Trauma Information & Empowerment Circle 🌿

This virtual support group offers a safe, structured space to build coping skills, blending The Safety Team's innovative trauma treatment and violence prevention program (developed by psychologist Dr. Christine DiBlasio) with Dr. Judith Herman's evidence based framework for trauma recovery.

Who can join: Adults who identify as women or non binary, and who are in recovery from domestic or intimate partner violence, childhood abuse, or other interpersonal trauma.

What to expect: A brief virtual intake interview, followed by 12 weekly virtual sessions (60 to 75 minutes each), facilitated by trauma informed clinicians.

When: Every Tuesday, 5:00 to 6:15 PM, September 15 through December 1.

Space is limited to 8 to 10 participants to keep the group safe and supportive, so reach out soon if you'd like to join.

📧 Sign up: [email protected] (confidential and HIPAA compliant)

The Safety Team

08/17/2026

"It was really reassuring to learn how to be able to help myself and stay safe in uncomfortable situations and learning how to use my voice to stand up for myself!" Kira, age 14 💪

This summer, staff from Make Waves Retreat , a girls' empowerment retreat program in the Adirondacks of New York, completed their Empowerment Self-Defense instructor certification with The Safety Team. They brought what they learned straight to their "Empowered and Standing Up" retreat, leading ESD workshops for the girls in attendance.

The lessons didn't stop when the workshops ended. From Lake Placid to the summit of Cobble Hill Mountain, the girls kept practicing their strikes and their voices all week, turning early hesitation into confidence and pride by retreat's end.

Read the full story: https://mailchi.mp/thesafetyteam/whats-going-on-13885185

07/30/2026

🌱 Free Mind-Body Trauma Recovery Program | Together, we prevent violence, heal trauma, foster resilience, and build safer communities.

You deserve to feel safe, confident, and whole. Our TESD™ (Ther**eutic Empowerment Self-Defense) program blends mind and body to help trauma survivors rediscover their voice, their power, and their peace.

Developed by Dr. Christine DiBlasio, this evidence-based program is free and open to our community, thanks to a grant from the Vermont Center for Crime Victim Services.

✨ Rediscover safety and freedom
✨ Find the power in your voice and body
✨ Grow in confidence and control

📅 Adults: Aug 28, Sep 4, Sep 11 | 2:00–4:30pm
📅 Teen & Young Adults: Oct 2, 9, 16, 23 | 4:00–6:00pm
📅 Adults: Oct 30, Nov 6, Nov 13 | 2:00–4:30pm

Small groups. Space is limited. Every journey to healing starts with one brave step.

Email [email protected] or visit thesafetyteam.org to register.

The Safety Team

07/26/2026

We are so proud of our amazing Safety Team Empowerment Self-Defense Instructor training cohort! They led a great workshop today and finished up Day 5 of their training!

We are so grateful to all of these incredible women for their hard work and dedication to promoting the safety, empowerment, and well being of girls and women. Well done, ladies! 💪✨️

07/22/2026

Sign up now! Level I Workshop:

Essentials of Empowerment Self-Defense

📅 Sunday, July 26, 2026
🕙 10:00am to 12:30pm
📍 South Burlington, VT

This 2.5 hour beginner workshop blends large and small group instruction with a 5:1 student to instructor ratio. Learn boundary setting, affirmative consent, and the mental and physical skills of Empowerment Self-Defense, through a trauma-informed lens.

Open to women and girls (cis, trans, non-binary) ages 14+. Ages 12 to 13 welcome with a participating parent or guardian.

Spots are limited, sign up today on our website:
www.thesafetyteam.org

The Safety Team

07/19/2026

TESD™ Refresher Session

Have you participated in The Safety Team's TESD™ Ther**eutic Empowerment Self-Defense series? Ready to revisit your skills and keep building on that healing?

We're offering a free 90-minute booster session for past TESD™ participants, courtesy of a grant from the Vermont Center for Crime Victim Services.

📅 July 24, 4:30-6pm
Space is limited to 12 participants, so sign up soon on our website: https://thesafetyteam.org/event/tesd-refresher/

Already attended a refresher before? You're welcome to join again, there's no limit to how many sessions you can attend, space permitting.

Interested in virtual programming? Let us know here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeDXo3kmOTndaE8rC6jrQZwUKX4TWW3yYcIt0CtS0agme8MHg/viewform

07/16/2026

At the end of April, Saint Michael's College welcomed The Safety Team on campus for a Level 1 workshop. Twelve students and two faculty members participated, and they loved it!

That came through clearly in the evaluations, and even more so in what happened afterward: multiple students expressed interest in volunteering, pursuing instructor training, or attending a Level 2 workshop.

SMC wanted to bring Empowerment Self-Defense to campus to help students learn mental and physical techniques they can use to feel empowered and safe. Based on the workshop's energy, we know the fourteen attendees left feeling this way!

In partnership with The Safety Team, SMC is now planning to train students as instructors to begin a sustained model in which students will deliver ongoing violence-prevention workshops to the community throughout the year.

07/05/2026

🌟 Empowerment Self-Defense comes to Burlington High School! 🌟

Our two week ESD series at BHS was a year in the making. A team of Safety Team instructors led the program, with incredible support from an art teacher and school social worker at BHS who championed the project through a school transition and end of year chaos.

Students started hesitant, confronting hard truths about sexual violence stats, but by week two they were leading the room, teaching each other strikes, and building their own Presentation of Learning from scratch.

A TST board member summed it up: "The POL was AMAZING. The students were informed, engaged, and energized... After seeing the presentation, I feel even more strongly that getting our program into schools is the way for The Safety Team to have the biggest impact."

This fall, many of these students expressed interest in returning as assistant instructors for our next Level 1 workshop at BHS.

None of this would be possible without the generous support of the Vermont Women's Fund, whose commitment to Vermont women and girls keeps opening doors for programs like this one. 💛

Read the full story: https://mailchi.mp/thesafetyteam/whats-going-on-13884338

The Safety Team
Vermont Women's Fund
BHS YES program

07/03/2026

At the end of Hazen Union's first J-Term Empowerment Self-Defense (ESD) seminar in summer 2025, students asked that they offer ESD as an actual class throughout the school year.

They insisted it be co-ed, saying that everyone needed access to the information and skills, and that male students absolutely had to be included to change the culture. Hazen's administration supported the idea, and their first semester-long ESD class was born.

Instructors Michele Fox and Anja Pfeffer co-taught the class: 10 students, meeting daily, combining physical skills like strikes and ground defense with real conversation about mental strategies and violence prevention.
By the end of the semester, every student said the class should continue, and that other schools should offer it too. As one student put it, "I feel as if it should be just as common knowledge as math. It's very important to know how to protect yourself." Another added, "This class gets you out of your shell and comfort zone and gets you more in the know."

Maybe the most powerful moment came from a 12th grade male student, who said, "I would like for the class to be required for all four years of high school."

Read the full story in our latest newsletter 👉 https://mailchi.mp/thesafetyteam/whats-going-on-13884339

Address

444 South Union Street
South Burlington, VT
05401

Website

http://www.thesafetyteam.org/

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