Ellen Bass, Co-Author of The Courage to Heal and Free Your Mind and Founding Board President of Kidpower

Ellen Bass, Kidpower Advocate and author of “The Courage to Heal”

“As someone who has worked with thousands of survivors of child abuse, I particularly recommend the Kidpower programs because of their excellent balance of building self worth while focusing on prevention skills to set boundaries appropriately and to avoid confrontation in order to stop most trouble before it starts. Kidpower’s programs for children offer effective tools for protecting children from harm in a way that builds their confidence rather than creating anxiety. For adult survivors, Fullpower programs offer a way to take back their power on a physical and emotional level. For all of us, they offer a way to free ourselves from fear.”

Gavin de Becker, leading expert worldwide on the prediction and management of violence and best-selling author of The Gift of Fear and Protecting the Gift

“Kidpower has an exceptional track record in the field of personal safety and violence prevention. No aspect of a security program is more important than accurately assessing potential safety hazards before they evolve. Kidpower gives people the opportunity to take charge of their own safety by assisting in the development of skills to assess, avoid, de-escalate, and escape from violent or abusive situations. Personal safety training that fosters worry or anxiety is counterproductive. Kidpower workshops help to reduce worry by promoting confidence and personal power. Kidpower ‘s teaching is particularly valuable to children in disadvantaged circumstances as well as people with disabilities and survivors of violence in its many forms. Kidpower is really human power, put to its very best use.”

From Other Crime Prevention, Health, and Mental Health Experts

Manny Solano, Chief of Police, Watsonville City Police Department

“Kidpower has an outstanding track record of teaching parents and other caring adults  effective skills without creating fear. As a public safety officer, I strongly believe that a great deal of violence, including bullying and abuse, could be prevented if everyone had these skills.”

James Crawford, M.D. and Susan Murray, LCSW, Oakland Children’s Hospital Child Protection Center

“The Kidpower program stands out among child abuse prevention programs due to a variety of factors including: content integrity, developmental and situational appropriateness, focus on skills and action, and efficiency and practicality.”

Barbara Ridley, FNP, Nurse Practitioner, Alta Bates Rehabilitation Center

“The workshop for the Disabled Community Health Clinic gave our clients valuable skills that they can use to keep themselves safe out in the world and impressed our staff who can pass these skills on to other clients.”

From Educators

Kathy Marshall, Interim Superintendent and Director of Curriculum, Orinda Union School District

“After researching many different social-emotional, bullying prevention, and abuse prevention programs, our district has been very excited to discover and experience the philosophy, depth, adaptability, and practicality of Kidpower’s training and educational materials. The Kidpower curriculum empowers students, parents, and teachers by using a strengths-based approach, to provide important tools for achieving our goals to create a culture of safety for our students, staff, and families.”

Bruce Harter, Ph.D., Superintendent, West Contra Costa Unified School District

“Through the wide array of services provided in our schools over many years, we have seen firsthand that Kidpower supports the development of skills young people need, not only to be safe from bullying and violence, but also to thrive in social, academic, and professional contexts throughout their lives. In addition, Kidpower provides accessible, culturally- appropriate guidance for parents and teachers in fostering the development of age-appropriate interpersonal safety and advocacy skills on an everyday basis at school and at home. I strongly support the use of Kidpower services and resources for WCCUSD students, staff, and parents. Kidpower skills are foundational life skills that will always be timely and relevant.”

Dr. Peter Lewis, Head of School, Winston School

“The Kidpower program is compelling in its relevance and importance to a child’s education. As a father and an educator, I appreciate how Kidpower gives parents and teachers practical tools that they can use effectively to protect the emotional and physical safety of children and youth in their lives. The empowerment and advocacy that Kidpower provides are essential to a child’s well being. Kidpower has been a unifying theme in my educational philosophy for over 20 years.”

Russ Vogel, Principal, Manitou Springs Elementary School

“What is Kidpower’s effect in my school? Empowered children. Empowered to stand against bullies because they have been given the vocabulary to do so. Empowered to stand against predatory adults because they have the awareness to do so—as did the young boy last year who he shouted ‘No!’ and fled back to our school from an adult closing in on him. Empowered to stand together as they move on into middle school, with the fully developed expectation that people respect and protect themselves and each other. Kidpower has been a major partner here in preparing our children internally, systemically, against the risk factors in an increasingly risky world. These people are smart, loving, appropriate, and powerful for kids.”

Olga de Santa Anna, Principal, Mintie White School

“The Kidpower program is far more effective than other bullying prevention programs in that it gives the children the opportunity to learn the skills by practicing them. The cartoon illustrations, stories and role-plays are ideal ways for children to integrate the skills of personal safety and can be easily integrated into our literacy programs. Kidpower has been a tremendous benefit to our school community.”

Helga Cohen, MFT, Head of Counseling, French American International School

“Kidpower’s presentation gave our students an opportunity to reflect on their interactions with people in their lives, to think about how they are treated and how they would like to be treated and to make a plan for how to handle situations that make them uncomfortable. We believe that the ideas they were presented with and the skills they learned will be useful to them for the rest of their lives.”

Silvana Mosca-Carreon, Director and Co-Founder, El Nuevo Mundo Children’s Center

“All of our teachers report feeling confident and successful in using the materials. The students enjoyed the lessons, practiced the skills, and began using the skills in their interactions with other children and adults. The children we teach face many challenges that can be barriers to preventing academic success, and the Kidpower skills are tools that will help them overcome many of these challenges.”

Hal Ledbetter, Former Director, Special Education Department, Santa Cruz County Office of Education

“The Kidpower program far exceeds other programs because it presents real situations to students and allows the positive experience of how to deal successfully with them.”

Note: Kidpower received a special award from the County Office of Education in recognition of service to the community.

From Countless Classroom Teachers