Fostering Awareness, Demystifying Fear, and Empowering Girls to be Strong & Confident!

Photo credit The Portland Observer / Mark Washington

Welcome to GirlStrength! GirlStrength is a new self-defense program offered through the Portland Police bureau for girls 10-14 years of age. GirlStrength shares the same philosophy as it's sister program, WomenStrength, which has been offering free self-defense classes for women and personal safety workshops to people in the Portland area since 1979.

GirlStrength is a free comprehensive self-defense course that focuses on empowering girls and demystifying fear while also teaching verbal assertiveness and physical self-defense skills. This eight week program is designed for girls in grades 5-8 and is available to any school in the Portland area. Course topics and material include:

• The role of intuition
• Physical and non-physical escape options
• Verbal assertiveness and strategies
• Personal boundary setting
• Identifying boundary intrusion
• Confidence and self-esteem building techniques
• Societal values of women & girls
• Gender stereotyping
• Safety planning and prevention techniques
• Building allies and dealing with relational aggression
• Street smarts and common attacker strategies  
• Sexual assault and dating violence
• Digital violence
• Physical self-defense skills

Information for Schools

If you would like to request the GirlStrength program for the 2009-2010 school year, please fill out fill-out the program request form below and email it the GirlStrength Coordinator at GirlStrength@portlandpolice.org.

• Program Request Form

Please click the links below to find out more about the program.

• Program Description

Please click the link below to find out what is required to host this new program at your school.

• Host School Requirements

GirlStrength Workshops

In addition to this program, the Portland Police Bureau is also offering individual safety workshops. These workshops are generally 2-4 hours and are available to girls 10-17 years of age. To find out more about these workshops, click the link below.

• GirlStrength Safety Workshops

Please click the link below to download a safety workshop request form for your organization or group.

• Safety Workshop Request Form

Become a GirlStrength Instructor!

If you would like to become a volunteer GirlStrength Instructor, please email us at GirlStrength@portlandpolice.org.

For more information about the GirlStrength program or workshops, contact the GirlStrength Coordinator, Carolyne Haycraft at (503) 823-0239 or email her at GirlStrength@portlandpolice.org. 

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We welcome your questions and comments.