I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to take part in the IMPACT classes at the shelter. Truthfully, when the shelter first told us we would be required to participate in classes for the next five weeks, I was upset. I remember thinking that it was going to be a big waste of time. I tried talking my case-worker into allowing me to skip these classes. I had just had a baby. He was only about 2 months old. I didn’t feel too comfortable allowing some stranger to watch him while I took part in these classes. But, she told me to at least try it and if I absolutely hated it she would not make me continue.
That next week was the first class. The instructor was a woman named Ana. Once she started explaining the class plan for the next five sessions, I remember getting excited and wondering to myself if I would be able to do these new moves. I decided that this was easy enough and I was going to do my best to hit as hard as I could and use this experience as a way to release some of the stress I was going through. Being a woman in shelter and having just had another baby, I had a lot of stress in my life.
At first they taught us to use our voice and be assertive. This was difficult for me, which was totally unexpected. Being a survivor of trauma and sexual abuse, I had mostly blocked out a lot of my feelings. But once the instructor started playing the part of an attacker and began shouting some obscene remarks at me, I was floored. I found myself at a complete loss of words. All the fear and emotions came rushing back at me. Ana talked me through it and I could hear the support from the other women in the class. I decided that I was not going to let this get me down. I overcame my fear and shouted back at him. I told him what I wanted. It took a couple of tries. At first I had to sit down and watch some of the other women take their turns first, but I did it. From that point on, I was excited and couldn’t wait for them to come back the following week.
I got a lot out of that experience and am really proud of myself. It was very hard and I did not expect for my emotions to turn on me like that especially over a class. Ana explained to me that it was a normal reaction and that I could get through it. And I did.
Now I am an intern at IMPACT and will be assisting at other shelter classes. I am glad that I did stay and I have made some good friendships with some of the other women in my class. I feel that all women should have the opportunity to take an IMPACT class.
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