Exchanging Mantra’s for M.A.P.S.

In the spirit of celebrating strength, the Women in Pharma^® International Steering Committee decided to change things up for the 2023 ISPE Annual Meeting & Expo, and in lieu of the annual Tuesday Morning Yoga session, Women in Pharma^® is proud to announce a 1-Hour introductory self-defense and kickboxing class: M.A.P.S.

ISPE’s Women in Pharma^® is committed to empowering women and other marginalized groups within the pharmaceutical industry, as we advocate for accelerated equality within the workplace and beyond. Through international and regional programming, Women in Pharma^® focuses on helping underrepresented groups within the industry develop strength and confidence that will help guide the direction of their career.

In the spirit of celebrating strength, the Women in Pharma^® International Steering Committee decided to change things up for the 2023 ISPE Annual Meeting & Expo, and in lieu of the annual Tuesday Morning Yoga session, Women in Pharma^® is proud to announce a 1-Hour introductory self-defense and kickboxing class: M.A.P.S.

Designed by ISPE member Bridget Collins; a Black Belt in mixed martial arts and a business owner in the Life Sciences / Pharma Market. Conference attendees will have the opportunity to kick their Tuesday morning off with a powerful start.

Read below to better understand this impressive program Bridget has designed to inspire confidence, strength, and reassurance in all of whom take part.

Traveling is a privilege that we have the joy of experiencing, whether it is to the beach, the cities, the mountains, the trails of our neighborhoods…anywhere in this world. While we enjoy this privilege, there needs to be a heightened level of self-preservation and awareness that we need to embrace to ensure our own personal safety. How prepared are we when we travel from the safety of our own homes? What is our Mindset around personal safety? How Aware are we of our surroundings? What do we do to Prepare ourselves and our loved ones to ensure our safety? If we DO find ourselves in a dangerous or threatening situation where our personal safety is at risk, do we have tools to react quickly to return to safety? Do we have a muscle memory reaction if someone grabs our forearm? Do we know a few basic movements if someone grabs us from behind by the hair or around our waist? What is our own level of preparedness if we find ourselves with an attacker whose hands are on our shirt grabbing us? Leaving “the figuring to those we pass on our way out of town” could be our demise very quickly if we do not establish this mindset and practice basic self-defense.

The M.A.P.S Self Defense seminar is designed to remind us that we can create daily habits that will increase our odds of never being in one of the above situations. M.A.P.S. is the acronym for

Mindset
Awareness
Preparedness
Strike

M.A.P.S. Self Defense empowers us to practice a daily Mindset around Awareness, Preparation, and Striking (only when necessary) to prevent harm and to defend ourselves.

Activities will include:

• 15 minutes – Introductory Kickboxing
  • Proper positioning and distancing
  • Basic combination for warm up
    • Jab/Right/Hook/Kick
• 40 minutes (10 minutes per movement) – Forms of Attacks
  • Pony pull
  • Bear hug from behind
  • Hands on neck or shirt
  • Wrist Grab
• 5 Minutes - Final Stretches & Affirmations
  • MAPS Affirmations
  • Takeaway Tips / Safety Tips for Travel
• Sexual violence is costly. Recent estimates put the lifetime cost of rape at $122,461 per survivor, including medical costs, lost productivity, criminal justice activities, and other costs.1
• Globally, violence against women disproportionately affects low- and lower-middle-income countries and regions. Thirty-seven percent of women aged 15 to 49 living in countries classified by the Sustainable Development Goals as “least developed” have been subject to physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence in their life. Twenty-two per cent of women living in “least developed countries” have been subjected to intimate partner violence in the past 12 months—substantially higher than the world average of 13%.2
• Globally 81,000 women and girls were killed in 2020, around 47,000 of them (58%) died at the hands of an intimate partner or a family member, which equals to a woman or girl being killed every 11 minutes in their home. In 58% of all killings perpetrated by intimate partners or other family members, the victim was a woman or girl.3