DINWIDDIE, Va — On Saturday, Nov. 6, the volunteer militia Dinwiddie Civil Defense will be offering a self-defense class for women beginning at 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. with a 45 minute lunch break (enrollees must bring their own lunch). Cost to enroll is $40.

The class will cover six topics including: self defense as a state of mind, situational awareness, self defense hand to hand, self defense with non lethal weapons, self defense with lethal weapons (including information on conceal carrying) and home defense.

In-person instruction on the methods most effective in freeing oneself from a violent altercation will be given differing from many instructions which circulate in the online world.

Among the advice given by the group is not to strike a foe in a self defense situation, poorly placed blows may hurt the one doing the striking more than the receiver, the best course of option is to leave the scene as composedly and rapidly as possible, target the attacker’s hands if they are preventing a victim from leaving.

The course will also feature a presentation on recent crime statistics along with presentations by trained members of the group on how to handle hand-on-hand altercations. Some time will be spent on a range where trainees can learn how to handle and draw a gun as well as when the best situations are to use them to avoid escalating a situation.

“The reason I’m teaching this is because we have good community-minded people that are pretty well-trained, skilled and active in all sorts of security and personal protection,” said Rick Pyle, communications director of the Dinwiddie Civil Defense. “We see a lot of bad advice going around that is more geared toward getting people in trouble than helping them.”

Common forms of violence directed at women can include rape and sexual assault, various forms of harrasment and domestic violence involving an intimate partner.

According to ncadv.org, one in four women experience severe intimate partner physical violence, intimate partner contact sexual violence, and/or intimate partner stalking with impacts such as injury, fearfulness, post-traumatic stress disorder, use of victim services, contraction of sexually transmitted diseases. One in three women experience some form of physical violence by an intimate partner including a range of behaviors including slapping, shoving and pushing.

“The main thing that sparked this was I had several ladies around town ask me if I could teach them how to use different types of guns,” said Pyle. “A lot of advice is very poor and not practical. It assumes that a woman has been training for hours a week or is very calm at the moment.”

DCD is a community organization consisting of “community-minded” people who assist in various efforts and training in the area; much of it includes self-defense training. Some members are EMTs and the group has provided medical services in the past. The group also conducts training for outdoors preparedness such as how to set up a tent or cook one’s own food.

In February of this year, following the ice storm that left thousands without power, DCD provided upwards of 25 people to pull residents out of ditches, clear downed trees, assist those in emergency situations and provide transportation to those in need.

Those interested in taking the self-defense course for women can message DCD on their facebook page or on their telegram @dinwiddiecdf.

“Our primary focus is how to avoid putting yourself into a place where you could get hurt,” said Pyle. “If you know how to avoid certain scenarios, having situational awareness as a state of mind can help you avoid any undesirable situation.”