Elemental is a sexual assault protection program that offers realistic training for realistic situations. This program:

  • Combines the best of classroom education and self-defense training in a program with peer-reviewed evidence of long-term effectiveness.
  • Offers an organized, cost-effective, and holistic curriculum that is grounded in social science research and is inclusive of a variety of participants, including gender and sexual minorities (GSM).
  • Assists your institution in filling the most recent requirements of the Violence Against Women Act (including the SaVE Act). Elemental combines some of the best elements of primary prevention and risk reduction programming. We offer face-to-face training and ongoing prevention through self-directed student review.
  • Provides program participants with choices in the way they respond to an assault, each based on the four elements of To-Shin Do. Our name comes from this element-based problem-solving paradigm.

What are the four elements?

Earth (Confident)
Hold your ground
Water (Surprised)
Step back momentarily, assess, then react
Fire (Connected)
Anticipate the threat and stop it before it grows
Wind (Withdrawn)
Exploit weaknesses within the threat that enable you to leave entirely

Latest News

Elemental Featured in New Publication

Posted on May 30th, 2019

Read about the prevention philosophy behind Elemental in an article published in Change: The Magazine of Higher Education.

https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/AeT7Wuwqbut6cWHzgUSb/full?target=10.1080/00091383.2019.1606586

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Testimonials

Just wanted to let you know how awesome you are. You are making a huge difference! I think you are the only ones who get it.

M.W., PhD

I have recommended the seminar to other because it helped me a lot with confidence in uncomfortable situations, and made me feel like I could defend myself if necessary.

Participant

I really liked the "uh-oh" moment identifications because a lot of them I would have never thought of and it allows me to look out for them in real life situations.

Participant

I believe this seminar should be a requirement for every senior in high school! It would be an awesome investment.

Parent of a Participant

I would recommend this seminar to others because I think it addresses many different angles of sexual assault and how to deal with them not only physically, but also verbally. Because it is more common for people to be assaulted by people they know, I think this program does a good job of addressing those types of problems and how to deal with them.

Participant

The scenarios... all felt very real for me. As a survivor of intimate partner violence, I thought those situations were much more helpful than many of the stranger-rape cases in past self-defense classes I’ve taken.

Participant

I really enjoyed your "no pressure" approach and it allowed me to actually try the techniques without feeling uncomfortable.

Participant

I liked how the different techniques weren't gender specific, and I liked how you could use each of the elemental moves to cater to your specific personality. It made the techniques more approachable. I loved the seminar, it was really empowering!

Participant

My daughter is signed up for an upcoming session. I just wanted to say that I think your program is a valuable service to the students!

Parent of a participant

Elemental gives people helpful, but basic communication skills in these situations. I also like that it teaches you that there are steps to take before heading to the more physical ones.

Participant