Health service workers in Leeds marked International Women’s Day by learning how to deal with threatening situations on the street.

Two dozen women health service workers are feeling more confident while out and about in Leeds after taking a self-defence class organised by UNISON Learning Rep Gail Cammish.

Gail, who is a project manager for NHS Digital, the company that looks after the IT needs of the NHS, organised the two-hour course for International Women’s Day in March this year.

It proved so popular that Gail set up an equally successful follow-up only a few weeks later – and is still fielding requests for further re-runs later this year from women who have heard how much their colleagues got out of it.

Gail said;

Everyone who took part found it very positive: it made them feel they would have the confidence and the moves if anybody did try to assault them.”

The Stay Safe women’s personal safety workshop is delivered by the Huddersfield based social enterprise Freedom Personal Safety, who are trained and accredited to deliver specialist self-defence course to women and young girls.

The workshop mixes practical advice, such as not being distracted by talking on a mobile phone when walking home alone at night, with practical work in pairs practising the most effective techniques to stop an attempted assault.

One of Gail’s colleagues, Sofia Layton, signed up for the workshop after she had to fend off an attempted attack while waiting for the her bus home, when one member of a group of young men thrust his hand in her face.

Sofia recalls the incident;

Thankfully my instinctive actions were to push his hand to the side away from my face and shout a couple of choice words right at him. The lad backed off and ran off to his friends.”

When the invitation to the UNISON workshop arrived a few days later, Sofia enrolled immediately.

She said;

I’m not sure I would have signed up had I not had that experience shortly before and I really didn’t know what to expect but it was very enjoyable and really well run: it was one of the most valuable couple of hours I’ve spent.”

I felt comfortable in the session and I learned some really useful things that make me feel more able to look after myself, even if I find myself in a situation that is more threatening than that.”

Sofia’s account of her experience at the bus stop and the workshop have been published on the staff intranet, which is encouraging more women to ask Gail to run the class again.

Gail said;

That’s driven it forward, people seeing the story and thinking “I probably need to do that workshop”.”

This case study first appeared in U Learn – Summer 2017