With recent accounts of serial rapists in the area, and Columbus’ high rape statistic, awareness and prevention of sexual assault is important.

IMPACT Safety Programs, a non-profit violence prevention program, offers courses and workshops that teach people how to protect themselves in dangerous situations.

“We offer a variety of courses for people of all ages,” “said Dan Elliot, program director. IMPACT offers full force, full contact training.

“We’re best recognized by the guy in the padded suit,” he said.

Participants of the program learn awareness and self-defense techniques through workshops and basics programs. Elliot said anyone can participate in the programs.

The Sexual Assault Response Network of Central Ohio, or SARNCO, offers services to survivors of sexual assaults.

Kara Vernor, education and prevention coordinator at SARNCO said there are two basic branches.

The first branch involves crisis intervention to survivors and their friends and family. The second branch is prevention education through outreach, classes and self defense.

Vernor said most prevention and awareness information is geared to women. Now, some programs are focusing on men’s awareness.

“We look at what we can present to men to help them not become rapists,” “she said.

SARNCO’s 24-hour rape helpline provides support, crisis intervention and referral information to survivors of sexual and domestic violence, their friends and family and to the community. The service can be reached at 267-7020.

“Anyone who is interested, we will provide service for,” Vernor said.

Deborah Schipper, coordinator of the Rape Education and Prevention Program at Ohio State, said women can protect themselves though five steps: internal awareness and being aware of their surroundings, by trusting their instincts, by watching how they carry themselves and their body language, through verbal self defense and finally through physical self defense.

Schipper said when it comes to protecting one’s self, “Whatever anyone does to survive is the right thing to do at the time.”

REPP has been a program at OSU since 1983. It offers free self defense classes for women, including non-students. The classes are two hours long and meet for five consecutive weeks. During the course women will learn mental, physical and verbal self defense.

“Women need to overcome the notion that we can’t win,” she said.

Schipper said there are many myths associated with sexual assault. Believing women can’t fight back, that they “asked for it” by being provocatively dressed and race notions are only a few.

“The biggest myth about sexual assault is that it has to do with sex,” Vernor said. “It’s really about power and control.”