Girls’ LEAP knows that in order to prevent violence, we need to commit time and resources to closing the confidence gap and empowering girls to be champions of their own safety and boundaries. We know that in reality, girls and women are more likely to be harmed by someone they know rather than a stranger in a dark alley. That’s why Girls’ LEAP programs are more than just physical self-defense. Our programs focus on creating a safe space for Boston girls to discuss and develop the socio-emotional skills they need to deal with the real-life issues that impact them: how to set effective boundaries, how to keep conflict from escalating, how to manage their own emotions, how to recognize healthy and unhealthy relationships, etc.
Girls’ LEAP strives to empower students to be their own champions in all aspects of their lives, to create a safe space for all program participants, to build self-worth, to give each girl the opportunity to set her own physical boundaries during the program, and to have a positive, empowering experience with her own physicality and strength.
In our programs and workshops, you’ll see girls who are confronting things that scare them and learning that they have the power to change the equation; that they can avoid danger, de-escalate conflict and, if absolutely necessary, to fight back. You’ll see girls learning how to keep themselves safe—but above all, you’ll see them learning about themselves; learning that they have courage, that their voices are strong and they can use those voices to set boundaries, to make their needs understood and to shape their futures.
A Girls' LEAP Program is ten sessions of 2 hours: 20 hours in total length. We cover basic physical self-defense skills including:
- Awareness skills
- Escape skills
- Using our voice as our first line of defense
- Strike skills (how to hit, kick, etc.)
- How to defend yourself from the ground
Girls' LEAP brings in an intergenerational teaching staff and aim for a teacher to student ratio of 1:4, so there's lots of individual attention on every girls' skill building. We know that many girls and teens are likely to have already experienced violence in their lives, so we take a trauma-informed approach to teaching physical skills: students can determine their own comfort level in participating, we foster a culture of consent, and physical boundaries are respected.
