by Alexander Nakhnikian | May 22, 2025 | Blog Post
When teaching classes for IMPACT, we often advise our students that they might encounter friends or relatives who disparage the skills they have acquired training with us, even going so far as offering to “prove” that such material “does not work in the real world”.... by Shay Orent | Dec 23, 2024 | Blog Post
Justin Baldoni is just the latest man in the public arena to turn out to be a huge disappointment, but for me, this one stung. You would think that after Louis CK and Aziz Ansari I would have known better than to admire a male celebrity who was preaching feminism. But... by Meg Stone | Sep 27, 2024 | Blog Post
In 2017, at the height of the #MeToo movement, it was near impossible to look at the news without seeing a story about sexual abuse in sports. Whether it was an image of Larry Nassar in a prison jumpsuit or brave Olympic gymnast survivors finally being believed and... by Impact Inc. | Sep 26, 2024 | Blog Post
When IMPACT held its Middle School Safety class this summer, I eagerly signed up my daughter and encouraged friends and neighbors to do the same. I was surprised I received some push-back. “Aren’t they too young?” “Won’t it scare them?” “Do we really need to worry... by Ben Comeau | Aug 20, 2024 | Blog Post
Teaching IMPACT skills to a group of young men who don’t really know what they are getting themselves into can feel like a wobbly tight rope walk. Young men come into our classes being told messages that haven’t been serving their safety for most of their lives and we... by Meg Stone | Aug 2, 2024 | Blog Post
51 Donors in 51 Days Some birthdays are supposed to be milestones: 18, 21, 30, 50, 80, 100. Usually, it’s the ones that come with new legal rights or the ones you can divide by 10. I’ve been lucky to celebrate a lot of these, but there are times when other milestones... by B Whitney | Jul 29, 2024 | Blog Post
For years I rested securely in the righteousness and rightness of phrases like, “No is a complete sentence” and “No means No”. I readily passed out these phrases when giving advice. These phrases are righteous. They are correct. But I was missing a step in my own... by Alicia (a.LEE.cee.a) Ortiz | Jun 26, 2024 | Blog Post
This simple one-liner has been pivotal for me over the past year, upon being hired by IMPACT last July and participating in countless classes as part of my coach training. All of our self-defense courses highlight verbal skills in addition to physical skills, and we... by Meg Stone | May 30, 2024 | Blog Post
Twenty-two years ago I walked into my first IMPACT class. I was excited, afraid, and hopeful. I looked around the room and saw the big padded suits the instructors wore. I wondered if I would really be able to defend myself against a person that big. I was lucky that... by Shay Orent | May 28, 2024 | Blog Post
There is nothing to do after the final day of a Core class – our longest, most intense weekend class in which we pack 20 hours of training in between Friday night and Sunday – but rest and ruminate. Like a coach after an important match, I find myself replaying...