OUR APPROACH
HOW WE DO THINGS
Our Values
Trauma-Informed Principles
Everyone has the right to feel safe(r)
Connection Martial Arts uses a trauma-informed approach which takes into account the lasting effects trauma, stress, and adversity have in people’s lives and health. Connection integrates this knowledge into all aspects of our operations in ways that foster clients’ safety, trust, and empowerment. The guiding principles are:
Safety
Trust
Support
Collaboration
Empowerment
Respect
We acknowledge that safety is relative - not everyone feels safe under the same conditions and some folks have a hard time ever feeling safe. So, we aim to make our studio a safer place for everyone, and to support those who do not feel safe in their bodies.
We are an Affiliate of the Fight Back Project/Conscious Combat Club, a growing network of trauma-informed martial artists from a variety of professional disciplines. You can find more information about them here.
Neurodiversity-Affirming
There is strength in diversity
Not everyone’s brain works in the same way and we work to support martial artists find their strength in a way that makes sense for them.
Inclusivity
Everyone is welcome
We not only strive to be a place for everyone, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, ability, or other diversities, but we actively work to promote inclusion of those most marginalized by mainstream approaches.
Accountability
We are fallible, we will make mistakes, and once we know better, we will do better
We hold ourselves accountable to our members. If members give feedback or submit a complaint, we will act on it. We commit to ongoing self-reflexivity, learning, and cultural humility to ensure that we do the best that we can for our members. We are human and therefore we will make mistakes, but we will acknowledge when we make mistakes and work to ensure that they don’t happen again.
Accessibility
We work to reduce barriers
Everyone deserves to experience the benefits that a martial arts community has to offer, regardless of any diversity that society may not be built to accommodate.
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy-Informed
Evidence-based ways to support emotion regulation on the mats
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) was created by Marsha Linehan in response to a lack of effective treatment being out there for folks who struggle with emotional dysregulation. DBT includes mindfulness skills, distress tolerance skills, interpersonal effectiveness skills, and emotion regulation skills. Our programs offer an opportunity to practice and embody these skills in a martial arts setting. Just like with DBT in clinical settings, we believe that we cannot teach the skills unless we use them ourselves.
Experts who inform our approach.