About Us
Antonella Spatola has advocated for learning Empowerment through Self Defence alongside Personality Profiling through a trauma-informed framework for over 20 years.
She is the founder and lead instructor for ESD Australia—Wisdom For Women and has just started her charity True To You. Its mission is to train other community leaders in the ESD framework to teach in their communities.
With a heart fuelled by a passion for individual transformation, Antonella's demeanour makes it easy for her to genuinely connect with people from all walks of life and provide support to empower them to work through their journey. Antonella has a B.A. in Psychology, is a train-the-trainer in ESD, a personality profiler, a conflict resolution mediator, a mentor, coach and works with neuro-diverse individuals as a behavioural therapist.
Antonella's diverse skill set encompasses being a certified Wing Chun Kung Fu instructor infusing ancient wisdom into modern philosophy. Her knowledge is a rich tapestry woven from her global experience.
Antonella's compassionate spirit extends to using a holistic approach, using the Enneagram to guide her clients on a transformative journey towards self-discovery and empowerment. She is a credentialed ESD Professional recognised by the Association of ESD Professionals.
Antonella develops unique ESD programs taught to women leaders from all over Asia and accepted by the Department of Education in the Philippines, The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region for Muslim Youth, and Spirit and Movement in Thailand for Women exiled from Myanmar.
She builds on definitions of self-protection and self-worth, which is different for every individual. Antonella's role as a Lead Instructor and mentor for ESD Global paints a vivid picture of her commitment to the betterment of society.
Her influence continues to ripple as she empowers fellow ESD instructors, building a community of change agents dedicated to violence prevention.
Antonella Spatola is recognised as a world leader in ESD and leads an odyssey of empowerment, wisdom, and boundless dedication. Her narrative resonates as an ode to transformation, a symphony of strength that continues to inspire lives worldwide.
ABOUT ANTONELLA
From 2021 Antonella served as the Regional Manager for ESD Global Inc. servicing the Asia Pacific region for ESD Global. During this time, countless partnerships were formed with NGOs working in violence prevention.
Listen to Antonella here speaking to Sam from the Pebble in the Pod Podcast from the STOP DV Conference on Violence Prevention Education on a Global Scale.
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Drawing from her own personal experience as an immigrant to Australia, Antonella had to navigate learning a new culture and learning a new language at 8 years old. Whilst her parents were providing for the family they were dealing with their own challenges assimilating into a new country.
Looking back now, Antonella recognises the importance of having strong role models who taught her to speak up and defend herself.
Antonella now teaches these skills to kids women and whoever wants to learn to support their journey and not become a victim of abuse.
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It has been a challenging journey to navigate a foreign culture. She was vulnerable and people took advantage of her innocence and lack of understanding. She did not understand what it meant to be assertive and set boundaries.
Over the years with trial and error, investing in her education, personal development and soul work, she has taught herself how to speak up and is constantly learning new things about herself. She prides herself on her integrity and ability to stand in her power.
With so many mixed messages and virtue-signally of what mainstream, and the rest of the conglomerates we are constantly navigating the muddy social rules of what it means to be empowered and assertive whilst being empathic and compassionate and knowing where our boundaries lay.
The more you practice boundary setting, honouring your needs and learning about yourself the more you can give myself grace and the energy to always learn and do better.
And this is what Antonella works with you to achieve.
Empowerment Self Defence (ESD) Training is not just another self-defence class. As a certified Wing Chun Fung Fu Instructor, Antonella has seen the overwhelming benefits of ESD in as little as a 3-hour workshop compared to ongoing martial arts-based training for many years.
ESD teaches you to recognise signs of abusive and toxic behaviours with familiars and strangers. This empowers the individual to become aware of what could eventuate and make decisions at the moment that are empowering.
The ESD methodologies are taught by female instructors, and the content is person/group-specific. For example in schools, issues year 4/5's deal with are different from year 11/12's and again different for tertiary students compared to middle-aged women vs the LGBTIQ community.
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ESD Australia is inspired to empower Australian women, children and vulnerable populations through violence prevention education and accessibility of Empowered Self Defence through the creation of specifically designed programs that are supportive, sustainable, longstanding, comprehensive, inclusive and empowering.
Antonella's programs are proven to promote healing, confidence and resiliency through a trauma-informed lens.
We are dedicated to meaningful collaboration with community organisations in a coordinated approach that promotes urgently required primary prevention education, supported by evidence-based theory and practice to enable individuals to live a life free from fear and control.
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"100% of students that have taken an ESD Australia class say they would recommend others to also take it"
WISDOM FOR WOMEN
