Managing Your Personal Safety

Personal safety is not about being frightened of the world around you.

It is about having the awareness, skills and confidence to recognise when something does not feel right, understand your options and make a decision.

Throughout this manual, we have looked at many different skills.

The most important thing is bringing them together.

It starts with awareness

Good personal safety often begins long before anything becomes physical.

You might notice:

• a change in someone’s behaviour

• someone repeatedly ignoring a boundary

• a developing pattern

• the environment becoming quieter or more isolated

• somebody moving closer

• your own level of discomfort changing

None of these things automatically means you are in danger.

They give you information.

What you do with that information is what matters.

NOTICE

Pay attention to what is happening around you.

Ask yourself:

What is happening?

What has changed?

What doesn’t look or feel right?

Look at the whole situation rather than one behaviour in isolation.

Think about:

Context → Combinations → Persistence → Patterns

You are not trying to predict exactly what another person is thinking.

You are noticing what is actually happening.

THINK

Once something attracts your attention, consider your options.

Ask yourself:

What could happen next?

What options do I have?

Do I need to act?

Look beyond the immediate problem.

Where are other people?

Where are the exits?

Could you create more distance?

Could you change your route?

Could you leave?

Where could you go?

Remember:

Don’t just know where you’re going. Know where you could go.

ACT

If something needs to change, act.

You might:

• change position

• create distance

• communicate clearly

• set a boundary

• disengage

• move towards other people

• leave

• get help

Sometimes the appropriate action will simply be to remain aware.

At other times, you may need to act immediately.

The important thing is not to wait for certainty when a simple, sensible action could give you more options.

If a situation becomes physical

Physical intervention is not the starting point of personal safety.

Everything we have covered before it is designed to give you opportunities to avoid reaching that point.

If you do need to physically protect yourself or break away from unwanted contact, remember the purpose:

Avoid → Disengage → Create Distance → Escape → Get Help

The objective is not to win a fight.

It is to get yourself to safety.

Keep reassessing

Personal safety is dynamic.

You notice something.

You think.

You act.

Then the situation changes.

So you notice again.

NOTICE → THINK → ACT → NOTICE AGAIN

A decision that was appropriate a few moments ago may need to change when you receive new information.

Stay flexible.

Confidence comes from having options

You cannot predict or control every situation.

You can control many of the decisions you make within it.

You can look up from your phone.

You can move.

You can say no.

You can create distance.

You can change your route.

You can leave.

You can ask for help.

And when necessary, you can protect yourself.

Personal safety is not about becoming suspicious of everyone around you.

It is about becoming more aware of your choices.

Remember

If there is one thing to take away from this manual, remember:

NOTICE

What is happening?

THINK

What are my options?

ACT

Do something while those options are still available.

The earlier you notice something, the more options you have.