BANGOR, Maine (WABI) – After a new Get ME Fit every week in January, the segment returns for the first time since it switched to a monthly schedule.
We’re taking a different approach for February and focusing not just on physical fitness, but mental fitness as well.
I took a women’s self-protection class with Fairfield native Autumn Clifford of She’s an Asset.
The former police officer and second-degree black belt is now teaching other women how to be hard targets.
Chief photographer Mark Rediker shows us what one of her classes is all about.
Clifford knows plenty about mental toughness.
That life skill she learned as a kid came in pretty handy when she was forced into a new career path as an adult.
“I’ve been in the martial arts since I’ve been five years old,” Clifford explained.
Clifford is not someone you want to mess with.
“I studied at Huard’s in Winslow. I’m a second degree black belt through them,” she said.
When she was 20, Clifford went into the police academy to purse a career she was passionate about and went on to earn a Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice.
She had stints at the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office, Augusta Police, and Saco Police before a back injury derailed her career.
“From there, I hit rock bottom. Depressed. I lost my purpose,” she said. “My plan was to go and be a detective and maybe be a supervisor someday. So, as you can imagine, it was very devastating when I got told, ‘Oh, guess what, you can’t do that anymore.’ But I got to take my training, and education, experience and apply it to something that I just feel is so meaningful and very helpful in to women.”
As she’s done plenty of times before, Clifford picked herself off of the mat and pivoted in a new direction.
“I started coaching women. I said, you know what? I’ve learned some things. I’ve seen some things from being a police officer, from being a career martial artist. How can I help people?” she thought.
Eventually, Clifford created She’s an Asset.
She travels around the state teaching self-protection classes and hosts a podcast of the same name.
“My goal is to instill confidence and create a situational awareness, which is going to make women hard targets,” Clifford said. “If you look like a hard target, a predator is going to be less apt to hurt you and less apt to try to take advantage of you versus if you look like an easy target.”
Her classes aim to teach women to know how to rely on themselves.
It’s a lesson Clifford known all too well.
“Look in the mirror because it’s you. It’s nobody else. And what you’re looking for is not on the outside. It’s inside,” she said.
If you want to learn more about She’s an Asset or schedule a class for your family, friends, or co-workers, visit She’s an Asset’s website or Facebook page.
Copyright 2024 WABI. All rights reserved.
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content
