CONTENT WARNING: MENTIONS SEXUAL & DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
HOW WE CAME TO BE
As a childhood survivor of sexual violence, our Co-Founder Andrea was tired of PTSD controlling her life. She decided to invest in self-defense classes hoping they would give her more confidence. While she did experience some healing, it took much longer because she was constantly retraumatized throughout the training.
who we are
Cor Defense Instructors
Our instructors, Andrea and Lonnie Person, are certified through the Krav Maga Foundation as Civilian and Children's Instructors, meaning they each have 180+ dedicated hours to learning how to teach Krav Maga, in addition to innumerable hours of training as a practitioner in preparation of taking the certification course.
They are certified Trauma-Informed Care Trainers through the Wellpoint Care Network, a leading organization in trauma-informed care integration and training.
Andrea also has 10+ years as a human services provider (including working with children who have experienced sexual violence), and with this experience countless hours of trauma-informed and therapeutic training. Her lived experience as a childhood survivor of sexual and domestic violence and her personal experience with being retraumatized through defense training fuels her passion to provide trauma-informed defense training that resists retraumatization and offers healing.
Lonnie and Andrea making weird faces and posing for a picture while wearing martial arts chest guard
Our Board of Directors
Peer-Led Organization
Providing trauma-informed defense training for survivors of sexual violence means we must understand that the impact of trauma on the brain is complicated, compounded, and individualistic. It is our priority to recruit Board Members who reflect the population of people we serve.
We have removed a specific financial commitment to serve on the Board of Cor Defense, enabling people who have lower income to serve on the Board. Our board members also represent the survivors we train: of the 5 board members, 3 are survivors of sexual violence, 1 identifies as a person of color, 4 are female, and 1 identifies in the LGBTQIA+ community.
Additionally, we have formed an Advisory Committee which will provide an independent sounding board for the Board of Directors. Survivors, family members, friends, colleagues from other nonprofits or businesses in the community, community members, and parents/guardians are encouraged and welcome to sit on the Advisory Committee.