Violence Prevention Education
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Violence Prevention Education
Born in 1969, Richard Dimitri began his martial arts training in 1975. By the age of 21, he’d acquired instructor certifications and black belts in several forms of martial arts, combative, and self-defense disciplines. This martial arts education led him into various careers spanning over two decades in the fields of private, public and corporate security, surveillance, countersurveillance, bodyguarding for high-profile clients in Canada, the US, Europe, and Mexico.
Richard is the Chief Architect at Study of Violence. Today Richard focuses on teaching and evolving his Masterclasses, specifically designed courses diving deeper into the applications of Violence Prevention and Defense tactics.
– Those concerned or at risk.
– Anyone who has been previously victimized.
– Those who want to implement the information and training methods into their curriculums, courses, classes, workshops, lectures, seminars, etc.
Many of the deep dive courses are application based. For more information please fill out the form on the link below.
Born in 1979, Pamela Armitage grew up in the dance and modeling industry in Alberta, Canada. She began teaching ballet and jazz at 16 years old, first as a teacher’s assistant, then on her own at the age of 18. Along with various dance and baton clubs, she was a long-time instructor with Chairtease Dance studios in Red Deer, Alberta. In 1999, she was hired by Mode Models to lend her experience to the talent and new model development divisions, teaching new girls the ropes of the industry. This experience in both the dance and modeling world provided Pam with deep insights into the unfortunate victimization that occurs in both sectors.
Pam is the Chief Impact Officer at Study of Violence, certified by both Richard Dimitri’s Self Defense Services and Safe International.
She is also an RYT200 Certified Yoga Teacher with a particular focus on Trauma Sensitive Yoga, continuing her research and development into trauma and its effects. Since 2015 she works with sufferers of trauma: PTSD, victims of sexual assault, and addicts.
Jason is a serial entrepreneur and the CEO of Don X — a boutique angel investment firm focused on the technology sector. He’s been involved in numerous industries, including Fintech, IT, Real Estate, Construction and Hospitality.
Known for his innate ability to identify major consumer trends and decipher exactly how to capitalize on them, Jason is uniquely able to take a project from visualization to actualization, crafting distinctive, valuable visions.
Jason has always had a passion for security, whether protecting business operations or one’s physical safety. In 2019, Jason founded Study of Violence alongside good friend for 20+ years and former instructor, Richard Dimitri, with the sole mission to provide the world peace of mind through the education of violence.
My name is Alejandra Ladines and I was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador. I grew up in a very dangerous area of the country, and from a young age, I was exposed to a lot of violence. I spent most of my time in the streets where fights were common and violent situations were unavoidable.
I have always been the type of person to be quick to respond and fight back -mostly by punches- which got me into many unnecessary fights. I never really had a clear understanding of what self-defense actually meant until I met Rich Dimitri through Benjamin Myers, my strength and conditioning coach during my senior year of high school, who invited Rich Dimitri to Ecuador to train with us and teach us self-defense techniques.
Self-defense turned out to be the contrary of the idea I had in mind all those years. I was all about learning how to fight, but Rich taught me that self-defense was more about awareness and de-escalation. Being aware of my surroundings (places, objects, noises, people, body language, etc) was extremely important when it comes to identifying violent situations, avoiding them and finding your way out of it. I am not trying to look for a fight, but rather avoid it by using de-escalation tools such as talking the other person out of it. As he always said: “most of the time there are just good people having a bad day “. There are so many more things I learned from Rich; however, the most important lesson I learned that changed my life was that self-defense does not equal violence, but rather self-defense was avoiding violence before it happens.
Richard’s approach to teaching self-defense is unique, honest and holistic. As a survivor I have been lucky to have found great coaches who have been able to impart a solid foundation of the psychological and physical impact of violence which has been invaluable. What Richard adds beyond that is an in-depth understanding of antisocial violence, sexual predators, and physical self-defense skills that anyone can learn and effectively execute in a high stress situation. His approach to listen to his student, his understanding of the subject matter and his experience of dealing with PTSD triggers and episodes for me has been transformative on many levels and is something I have not seen elsewhere.
Dimitri’s approach to hand-to-hand combat is refreshingly practical, realistic and effective. He is definitely a dynamic instructor with TONS of personal experience and stories that really shows how much his fighting techniques work.
– Captain (Chaplain) Rici Be at the Royal Montreal Regiment
Founder of BeyondDefence
Supreme. enRICHing. Human. Encountering Rich both as a human and a teacher was an incredible experience. From the perspective of a survivor it is deeply nourishing to experience a male supporting Women this dedicated and humble. Seldom have I met a human being as deeply connected with and embodying the importance and power of emotional understanding, foremost empathy. While I teach self-defense as self-care, learning from Rich hit the nail for me. It completed what I was looking for to share with my students. I couldn’t have asked for a better master to learn from, his knowledge, skills and understanding are phenomenal and have boosted my own teachings of self-defense to the top level. Gratitude and blessings to you, Richard.