This situation has come up several times over the years, and it’s a delicate one.
Something terrible and tragic happens to your significant other, kid, or family member, and it has a devastating emotional effect on the person, in an attempt to be helpful a family member intervenes and suggests getting self-defense training.
Should this person jump directly into self-defense training?
What I want to urge caution about is when I see a supportive person encouraging and pushing someone in an affected emotional state to get self-defense training shortly after something tragic happens without full consideration into whether they are emotionally ready for training. You cannot be in the person’s head and fully know what they are going through and whether they are ready.
I am not a mental health professional, therefore my response to these situations when they are brought to me is, please get counseling/visit a mental health professional that can help you figure out what the best course of action is for you before jumping right into physical training.
I want you to train and learn self-defense, but more importantly, I want to be in a mentally sound place before you start. In my opinion, the impact of having something trigger you during training could be more detrimental than helpful to you, particularly if it makes you never want to visit the emotion you experienced, and therefore never train again.
Parents/husbands/boyfriends/friends/you-yourself: be sure that the person is emotionally ready for training and support them, just be there for them. They might “want” to train but not be ready; they might want to train and be 100% motivated and fueled to better themselves. I don’t know how soon is too soon, that is something that you will have talk about and figure out together.
Train smart, when you're ready,
Evan D.
Owner/Lead Coach
NOVA Self Defense
Something terrible and tragic happens to your significant other, kid, or family member, and it has a devastating emotional effect on the person, in an attempt to be helpful a family member intervenes and suggests getting self-defense training.
Should this person jump directly into self-defense training?
What I want to urge caution about is when I see a supportive person encouraging and pushing someone in an affected emotional state to get self-defense training shortly after something tragic happens without full consideration into whether they are emotionally ready for training. You cannot be in the person’s head and fully know what they are going through and whether they are ready.
I am not a mental health professional, therefore my response to these situations when they are brought to me is, please get counseling/visit a mental health professional that can help you figure out what the best course of action is for you before jumping right into physical training.
I want you to train and learn self-defense, but more importantly, I want to be in a mentally sound place before you start. In my opinion, the impact of having something trigger you during training could be more detrimental than helpful to you, particularly if it makes you never want to visit the emotion you experienced, and therefore never train again.
Parents/husbands/boyfriends/friends/you-yourself: be sure that the person is emotionally ready for training and support them, just be there for them. They might “want” to train but not be ready; they might want to train and be 100% motivated and fueled to better themselves. I don’t know how soon is too soon, that is something that you will have talk about and figure out together.
Train smart, when you're ready,
Evan D.
Owner/Lead Coach
NOVA Self Defense
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