(EMAILWIRE.COM, April 03, 2010 ) MILWAUKEE, WI - A new credentialed college course on how to teach children the skills to respond to bullying and harassment was launched this week. This course -- Verbal Self Defense - Youth Program -- was developed over the last year by Chan Lee, owner of JK Lee Black Belt Academy in Milwaukee, Dr. George Thompson of the Verbal Judo Institute, Northeast Wisconsin Technical College in Green Bay, and Gary T. Klugiewicz, director of ACMi® Systems (www.acmisytems.net) and retired captain from Milwaukee County Sheriff's Department.

Youth violence -- described recently in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel as "the most under-recognized major health problem" -- is an ongoing concern. Recently, the Medical College of Wisconsin committed $8.2 million dollars to stem youth violence.

But the problem is not specific to any one place. State legislatures throughout the country are passing anti-bullying legislation, and the media has widely reported news stories about youth suicides resulting from bullying.

"Great damage is done to the victim, the bully and the bystander when harassment, verbal assault and bullying take place," said Dr. Thompson, founder of the Verbal Judo Institute. "After 27 years of teaching Tactical Communications to almost 1 million police, corrections and security professionals, I'm honored to finally have these Verbal Judo skills -- that have been proven to work in the most violent situations -- taught to children and adolescents so they can effectively deal with bullying."

To develop this program, Dr. Thompson teamed up with Chan Lee, owner of 5 martial arts schools with over 1,500 students, NWTC that has offered the Verbal Judo course for many years as part of its Public Safety offerings, and Gary Klugiewicz, a nationally recognized defense-tactics instructor who has impacted the lives of hundreds of thousands of law enforcement officers.

Verbal Self Defense - Youth Program (www.verbaldefensecourse.com) is a credentialed 14-module course that is offered online through NWTC on an ongoing basis and also includes 6 DVDs and a 150-page manual. The program provides youth educators with a comprehensive toolkit to bully-proof their students.


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