Every day, women navigate a world where the threat of violence is real. Yet most people are taught to believe that attacks are random, unavoidable, and unpredictable. This mindset creates fear and vulnerability... and it simply isn’t true.

The Mindset of the Empowered Woman™ is a groundbreaking 3-1/2 hour (roughly) seminar created exclusively for women, designed to replace fear with confidence, helplessness with awareness, and uncertainty with action. This isn’t just another self-defense class. It’s a life-saving blueprint for personal safety that addresses both the psychological and physical aspects of violence, giving you the tools to identify danger before it strikes and the confidence to respond effectively if it does.

Through a dynamic blend of instruction, case studies, and practical application, you’ll gain powerful insights into the world of personal safety:

Situational Awareness Mastery
Learn to sharpen your instincts and see what most people miss. Discover how to spot danger signals early and develop the proactive mindset that stops threats before they begin.

Composite Risk Management
Borrowed from military and law-enforcement science, this decision-making framework helps you evaluate risks and make fast, effective choices under stress.

The Anatomy of Violence
Understand the types of interpersonal violence and the step-by-step stages of criminal attacks. With this knowledge, you’ll never again be blindsided by the tactics predators use.

The Psychology of Predators
Break down the manipulative strategies of social engineering, the psychological tricks criminals rely on to lure potential victims. You’ll learn to spot the red flags and resist manipulation before it’s too late.

Tools of Self-Defense: What Really Works?
Pepper spray, firearms, martial arts, stun guns, knives... every tool has strengths and weaknesses. This program gives you the unbiased knowledge to make the right choice for your personal circumstances and comfort level.

Since its creation in 2012 (originally titled Elements of the Defensive Mindset™), this program has been delivered to over 20,000 safety-minded individuals in more than 25 states. It has been taught to law enforcement personnel, civic groups, women’s leadership organizations, and university sororities, earning a reputation as one of the most comprehensive and effective women’s safety seminars in the nation.

Participants consistently report that this seminar doesn’t just teach them how to protect themselves.  It changes the way they see the world. Graduates leave with clarity, confidence, and a lasting sense of empowerment.

The threat of violence surrounds us every day, but most people miss, or ignore the danger signals until it’s too late. The Mindset of the Empowered Woman™ program changes that. It teaches you how to recognize those signals, how to trust your intuition, and how to respond with both courage and skill.

This course is more than an education. It’s an investment in your safety, your independence, and your peace of mind. It may even save your life.

Take control of your safety. Step into your power. Invest 3-1/2 hours in yourself, and walk away with a mindset that lasts a lifetime.

This is one program NOT to be missed!

Register today for Mindset of the Empowered Woman™.

Seats are limited.

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR:

With a strong background in neuroscience and psychology, the instructor, Keith Hanson, is a career law enforcement trainer with multiple instructor ratings in Tactical Counterterrorism, Active Shooter Response, Immediate Action/Rapid Deployment, Tactical Firearms, and SWAT Medic disciplines.  He also holds instructor credentials as a Law Enforcement De-Escalation trainer and Forensic/Cognitive Interviewing practitioner.

PREREQUISITES:

None

EQUIPMENT REQUIREMENTS:

Notebook and pen/pencil, if desired.

No recording devices, please.

Students are welcome to take cell phone screenshots of selected video slides if they choose.

FAQS:

Q: How long is the program?

A: The presentation and interactive lecture generally runs three-and-a-half (3.5) hours.  However, with robust discussions and questions from participants, it is not uncommon for the total length of the program to stretch to four hours.

Q: Is there a cost to attend this program?

A: This program is being presented without an upfront charge; however,  donations are strongly encouraged to offset costs for both the session you are attending, as well as to offset costs when this program is being presented in venues that require facility rental charges and travel expenses for the instructor.

Q: Does this program include a physical component, or is it lecture and discussion only?

A: The Mindset of the Empowered Woman™ is a seminar-style presentation with robust discussions and question/answer sessions.  As such, there is NO physical component.

Q: Is there a minimum age requirement to participate?

A: The Mindset of the Empowered Woman™ program takes a very frank approach to mature subject matters.  The program includes discussions about acts of violence likely to be directed towards women and includes anecdotal accounts of rape, sexual assault, homicide, and attempted homicide, as well as discussions about the use of both deadly and non-deadly defensive force.  Attendees 13+ are welcome, however, parental discretion is strongly advised. 

Q: Is ID required?

A: No.  

Q: Can I update my registration information?

A: You may update your registration information directly through our registration portal.

Q: What do I need to bring to this training?

A: Please see "Equipment Requirements" above.  

Q: If I have any questions that are not answered on this page, who can I contact?

A: Please feel free to contact the training team directly by calling (877) 486-8724 (877-GUN-TRAIN) with any questions you may have regarding this program.

From the range to reality, Immersive Force Dynamics™ will guide you on how to fight, think, and win when it matters most.

When confronted with sudden violence, you don’t rise to the occasion; you fall back on your training. But most armed citizens and even many professionals are only exposed to static, square-range environments where paper and steel never think, move, or fight back. Real-world attacks are fast, chaotic, and merciless. They compress time, distance, and options into fractions of a second, forcing the brain to decide, move, and act without hesitation.

That is where high-fidelity reality-based simulation training steps in. Using defensive handguns converted to fire man-marking training ammunition, this immersive program exposes you to the most realistic defensive handgun training available outside of actual combat. Critical Dynamics constructs training scenarios that replicate the unpredictability of criminal assaults and violent encounters in a controlled, safe, but highly challenging environment.

This course draws directly from federal and state-level law enforcement and military reality-based training methodologies, giving you access to the same principles that prepare elite professionals to prevail in lethal encounters. Unlike traditional marksmanship practice, this training immerses you in force-on-force scenarios against live, thinking adversaries who react, adapt, and resist... just like attackers in the real world.

• Paper doesn’t fight back. Realistic, scenario-based training gives you practice against opponents who move unpredictably, forcing you to adapt, modify, and yes, even compress your decision-making.
• Physiological arousal, or what many people like to call stress, changes everything. Under duress, fine motor skills degrade, tunnel vision narrows, time distorts, the senses gate, and cognitive processing slows. That is, unless you’ve been inoculated through controlled exposure.
• You need decision-making, not just accuracy. In real confrontations, your brain, not just your trigger finger, determines survival. Simulation training wires in faster, smarter decisions when seconds count.
• Train like professionals. Law enforcement, federal agencies, and special operations forces rely on force-on-force because it works. Now you can access the same methods.

Participants will engage in carefully structured scenarios designed to:

• Confront dynamic role-players acting as aggressors, attackers, and bystanders.
• Practice de-escalation, verbal commands, and recognition of pre-attack cues.
• Experience decision-making under compressed time and distance conditions.
• Apply proper defensive handgun handling under compressed conditions, including malfunctions, reloads, and positional shooting.
• Develop adaptability when the fight doesn’t go as planned.
• Build confidence in one’s ability to act decisively in high-stakes environments.

Participants will leave with measurable mental and physiological improvements that traditional training simply cannot provide:

• Stress Inoculation: Repeated exposure to controlled stress hardens your nervous system against panic, allowing you to stay calm and effective under real threat.
• Neurological Imprinting: Builds “default” brain pathways for critical decision-making under stress, making correct responses faster and more instinctive.
• Cognitive Conditioning: Enhances your ability to prioritize information, process complex situations, and filter out distractions in fractions of a second.
• Perceptual Sharpening: Increases situational awareness, allowing you to detect pre-attack indicators, read body language, and avoid ambushes before they occur.
• Motor Learning Under Duress: Reinforces firearms manipulation and defensive movement so they remain reliable even under extreme adrenaline and degraded fine motor control.
• Resilience & Confidence: Reduces hesitation, fear, and freezing responses by building trust in your abilities and ingraining a survivor’s mindset.
• Decision-Making Under Compression:  Strengthens your ability to assess threat/no-threat situations, recognize when to escalate or disengage, and act lawfully and decisively when options like time, cover, and distances vary or are limited.

CLASS DURATION:

Six (6) hours

PREREQUISITES:

Participants will be expected to demonstrate an understanding and application of basic firearms safety and handling concepts. Completion of a basic firearms course (Critical Dynamics™ private coaching sessions, Critical Dyamics™ Practical Pistol Dynamics (Level 1 Pistol) or higher, NRA First Steps Pistol, NRA Basic Pistol, or another comparable basic pistol course) is preferred but not required.

A basic understanding of tactical handling skills is preferred.

This training program is NOT suited for the inexperienced, novice, or beginner shooter.

Critical Dynamics™ and its cadre of trainers maintain a consistent zero-tolerance policy regarding unsafe firearm handling.

NOTE:  This training program will be conducted in a STERILE training environment.  NO participant will be permitted to be armed with ANY firearm, knife, electronic control weapon, or ANY live ammunition at the training location.

EQUIPMENT PROVIDED:

UTM®-converted or Simunitions®-capable semi-automatic pistols, holsters, man-marking ammunition, protective gear, and all safety equipment.

NOTE:  UTM®-converted or Simunitions®-capable semi-automatic pistols are specially designed with safety in mind.  UTM®-converted or Simunitions®-capable firearms cannot physically chamber or fire live ammunition.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND:

• Law enforcement officers who are looking to sharpen judgment and reaction speed.
• Security professionals and protection agents who need realistic decision-making experience.
• Responsible armed citizens seeking training that goes far beyond the paper target.
• Concealed carriers who understand that carrying a firearm is not enough, that they must know how to fight with it under pressure.

This is not a marksmanship clinic. It is not a static skills refresher. This is an immersive, fight-replicating, brain-rewiring experience that bridges the gap between theory and survival.

Every scenario is engineered to challenge your brain, body, and emotions. You will experience adrenaline spikes, stress responses, and compressed decision-making windows... and then learn to master them. By the end of the course, you will walk away with:

• A hardened, tested ability to defend yourself under realistic conditions.
• Confidence in both your skills and your judgment.
• A reset in how you view violence, threat recognition, and survival.

Train like your life depends on it... because it absolutely does!

Secure your spot today! Spaces are limited to ensure maximum safety, individualized coaching, and scenario realism.

SCIENCE-BACKED TRAINING FOR MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE

In his seminal 1998 book Sources of Power: How People Make Decisions, Dr. Gary Klein (1998), the pioneer of the Recognition-Primed Decision (RPD) model, explains that experts under stress rely on pattern recognition and mental simulation rather than systematically comparing multiple options. As he observes, “Experienced decision-makers don’t generate and compare options. They use their experience to identify a workable solution and move forward.”  In moments of extreme stress, individuals draw upon prior experience to rapidly recognize patterns and act on the first viable course of action, bypassing deliberate analysis. This principle is precisely why scenario-based, high-fidelity training is indispensable.  By repeatedly exposing students to force-on-force dynamics, we are able to increasingly inoculate them against the physiological and cognitive effects of real-world violence while hardwiring motor skills and decision strategies that are more apt to surface automatically when time, distance, and options are compressed. This approach, long used in federal and state law enforcement reality-based programs, is now applied to equip responsible, law-abiding armed citizens with the same life-saving advantage. Unlike conventional firearms courses that focus solely on rote repetitions and static marksmanship, this program builds Decision Dominance™, preparing students not just to shoot, but to think, act, and survive under real-world conditions.

EXPERT INSTRUCTION

Training is led by certified law enforcement firearms instructors with active specialized credentials as law enforcement active shooter response and tactical counterterrorism response instructors with specialized instructor credentials and extensive experience designing and delivering reality-based force-on-force scenario training, combined with specialized debriefing/participant feedback techniques for maximum retention and benefit.  With extensive operational experience and instructional and tactical operations curriculum-development expertise, our instructors deliver highly effective, real-world training that enhances individual and team capabilities.  

WHAT YOUR PROGRAM TUITION INCLUDES:

Your program cost INCLUDES all instruction, targets, use of UTM®-converted or Simunitions®-capable Glock 17T semi-automatic pistols (for firing UTM MMR (Man Marker Rounds) or Simunitions FX cartridges ONLY), holsters for the Glock 17T semi-automatic pistols, magazine holders, UTM MMR (Man Marker Rounds) or Simunitions FX cartridges ammunition, and protective equipment for force-on-force scenario/reality-based training modules.

EQUIPMENT REQUIREMENTS:

1.  Appropriate Clothing: Students should bring appropriate clothing to participate in the classroom portion of the training.

Students are encouraged to wear shirts that will drape over or cover their waist-mounted, holstered firearm, if that is how they typically/customarily carry.

NOTE: Sandals, flip-flops, or any other form of open-toed shoes are NOT range-appropriate.

Reality/scenario-based force-on-force training utilizes low-velocity marking projectiles (provided) fired from a modified semi-automatic pistol (also provided). As such, students present in the training area may not have any exposed skin whatsoever.

Upper body: students MUST wear two layers of long-sleeved shirts. One long-sleeved shirt and a heavy sweatshirt are preferable.

Lower body: students must wear two layers of full-length pants. Heavier material (denim jeans or Carhartt-styled pants are preferable as the outer layer.)

Hands: Participants are required to wear gloves (tactical or shooting-style preferred) for all reality/scenario-based force-on-force training. Participants should ensure that their choice of gloves both protects their hands while still permitting reliable pistol handling and manipulation.

Groin: both men AND women must wear groin protection. Men may wear athletic cups or utilize folded towels. Women may use folded towels.

Eyes/Head: PROVIDED TO ALL PARTICIPANTS: full-head helmets with built-in eye protection and full neck protection.

ABSOLUTELY NO:  Camouflage fatigues, flak jackets, tactical/ballistic/load-carrying vests*, bright red shirts, or bright red outerwear!

*Law enforcement officers and licensed armed private security officers are permitted to wear tactical/ballistic/load-carrying vests if they are department/agency issued and/or approved.

2. Note-Taking Materials:  Pen and a full-sized notebook for classroom notes; pen and a small pocket notebook (if desired) for range notes. A jumbo permanent marker for use on the range.

FAQS:

Q: Is there a minimum age requirement to participate?

A: The Immersive Force Dynamics™ training program takes a very frank approach to mature subject matters.  As such, all participants must be at least eighteen (18) years of age or older.

Please note that some states statutorily establish a 'minimum age' for the carrying or possession of a firearm.  In those states, the minimum age for entry into classes held in that state shall be set at that respective state's minimum age to carry or possess a firearm. 

Further, participants must not be a 'prohibited person' under applicable federal and state guidelines. 

Q: Is ID required?

A: Yes.  Participants must show valid state or federal identification.

Q: Can I update my registration information?

A: You may update your registration information directly through the registration portal.

Q: What do I need to bring to this training?

A: Please see "Equipment Requirements" above.  

Q: Why are camouflage fatigues, flak jackets, tactical/ballistic/load-carrying vests, bright red shirts, or bright red outerwear prohibited?

A: Feel free to ask your lead instructor this question for a logical and comprehensive answer.  As for red shirts and red outerwear, the color red is reserved for instructors, trainers, range safety officers, and support staff.  It provides for and permits rapid identification of instructors as well as safety, supervisory, and support staff.

Q: If I have any questions that are not answered on this page, who can I contact?

A: Please feel free to contact the training team directly by calling (877) 486-8724 (877-GUN-TRAIN) with any questions you may have regarding this program.

⚠️⚠️ IMPORTANT LEGAL NOTIFICATION ⚠️⚠️

© 2025 Critical Dynamics, Inc. All rights reserved.

The contents of this or any training program notification, program announcement, registration page, program participant pre-read email,  and/or any other related announcement or promotional material, including but not limited to the industry-specific verbiage, terminology, grammatical/structural organization, contextual content structuring, and/or usage, remain the exclusive intellectual property of Critical Dynamics™ and Helios Systems™ and are protected under United States and international copyright and intellectual property laws. All proprietary language, structural designs, terminology applications, contextual structuring, and instructional formats contained herein are considered copyrighted materials.

No portion of this training program notification nor any related announcements or promotional materials related to this training program may be copied, reproduced, distributed, displayed, modified, or used to create derivative works, whether in whole or in part, by any means (electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise) without the express prior written consent of Critical Dynamics™.

Critical Dynamics™ actively monitors and aggressively enforces its intellectual property rights through the use of plagiarism detection services, including CopyScape™ and other content verification technologies.

ANY unauthorized use, reproduction, or misappropriation of the protected materials WILL be identified, investigated, and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, including pursuit of damages and injunctive relief.

This interactive training program meets (and exceeds) the training requirement to apply for the Massachusetts Class A License to Carry Firearms "LTC," or the Massachusetts Firearms Identification "FID" Card, in accordance with MGL Chapter 140, Section 131P and 515 CMR 3.00, and is an approved curriculum as outlined by the Massachusetts State Police (LTC-007).

This 3-1/2 hour program will provide the student with modules, including, but not limited to:

• Massachusetts firearms licensing process
• Massachusetts Use of Force Laws
• Legalities of carrying a firearm in the Commonwealth
• Concealed carry, vehicle transportation, and vehicle storage
• Home storage & security requirements
• Safe firearms handling, and
• Safely loading and unloading your firearm.

Following successful completion of the program, students will receive a certificate, along with all necessary forms, for applying for either the MA LTC or MA FID.

The instructor will demonstrate various handgun components and ammunition, and demonstrate proper firearm storage. Then, there will be an in-depth discussion regarding the legally permissible use of your firearm.

PREREQUISITES:

None

EQUIPMENT REQUIREMENTS:

Pen, notebook, and a great attitude!

FAQS:

Q: Is there a minimum age requirement to participate?

A: As a general rule, participants must be at least twenty-one (21) years of age or older.

Please note that some states statutorily establish a 'minimum age' for the carrying or possession of a firearm.  In those states, the minimum age for entry into classes held in that state shall be set at that respective state's minimum age to carry or possess a firearm.  Exceptions may be made in cases where a minor participant is under the direct participatory supervision of a parent or legal guardian.

Further, participants must not be a 'prohibited person' under applicable federal and state guidelines. 

Q: Is ID required?

A: Yes.  Participants must show valid state or federal identification.

Q: Can I update my registration information?

A: You may update your registration information directly through the registration portal.

Q: What do I need to bring to this training?

A: Please see "Equipment Requirements" above.  

Q: Should I bring a firearm to this training?

A: NO!  Please do not bring firearms or ammunition into the classroom!

Q: If I have any questions that are not answered on this page, who can I contact?

A: Please feel free to contact the training team directly by calling (877) 486-8724 (877-GUN-TRAIN) with any questions you may have regarding this program.