The first round of self-defence classes for women in Latrobe Valley will kick off in Morwell starting June 1 with women who either live, study, or work in the township receiving the free five-week training.
The Latrobe Health Assembly program booked out quickly with other sessions soon to be held in Traralgon, Churchill, Moe and surrounding areas.
LHA executive officer Ian Needham said the program was in response to the Latrobe City Council Municipal Health and Wellbeing plan where the community highlighted the need to feel safe.
“The concept of the self-defence classes was discussed within the Health Assembly and agreed that such a program would be a good trial to see if such courses can help people feel safe within our community,” Mr Needham said in a statement.
He said a total of 20 women have signed up for the five-week classes, which would be facilitated by a local gym.
A spokesman from LHA said classes will be interactive and that it will be a scenario-based training session where participants will receive self-defence training suited to various scenarios.
To keep updated on when self-defence classes will be held in your area or your nearest town, please like Latrobe Health Assembly’s Facebook page to sign up for a spot as numbers are strictly limited.
Latrobe Valley has a high family violence incidence rate with the Crime Statistics Agency reporting in 2016 that for every 100,000 people in the Latrobe local government area a total of 3676 family incidents had been reported.
