In her work as an activist, Kola Shippentower-Thompson has one primary goal: to make sure Indigenous women make it home safe.
In 2012, the mother of three personally experienced the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women (MMIW) after two of her cousins and her aunt disappeared and were later found dead. Those tragedies, coupled with her own experience in two abusive relationships, led Thompson to pursue a career as a professional mixed martial artist. A purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Thompson’s skills have helped build her confidence while fighting a crisis in which Indigenous women on some reservations are murdered at a rate more than 10 times the national average, Justice Department data finds.
“Using my training as a means of self-defense has given me the foundation to be able to advocate for MMIW,” Thompson says.
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After being sexually harassed by a coworker while working toward her dream job as a detective in the summer of 2020, Thompson realized she needed to take her advocacy a step further to protect herself and others in similar situations. “I [was] so tired of our [Indigenous] women being told that we're victims, that we have to figure out how we're going to survive, and we're the ones that have to continue telling people about this epidemic and raising awareness about it,” she says.
In the fall of 2020, Thompson used her experience and training to create the Wisáwca Project, an initiative that helps people create their own personal safety plan to ensure they do everything in their power to make it home. “Wisáwca” is a Cayuse/Nez Perce word that translates to “I am rising.” The plan has 13 steps, and aims to be preventative and proactive against violence, including stalking, harassment, and assault. It’s not specific to runners, but it encompasses situations you may encounter while running.
“It was designed for Indigenous women just because it's our response to the epidemic of MMIW, so it was built from the perspective of someone who's experienced victimization by law enforcement and from predators, and then also from a law enforcement perspective,” Thompson says. In creating the plan, she used input from police and tribal agency officials who investigate missing and murdered person cases.
“My heart and my soul goes to my people and that's who I had originally thought this plan would work for, but I think everyone's safety is important, all women, so we wanted to make sure we broaden the spectrum and made it inclusive for everyone,” she says.
Thompson shares the project in training presentations with individuals and communities, including Rising Hearts—an Indigenous-led grassroots organization formed by Jordan Marie Brings Three White Horses Daniel.
In January, Thompson expanded the project by creating an online worksheet in which participants can form their own safety plan to fit their needs. The worksheet gives your closest friends and family important information about you in case you should go missing, and also provides tips that you can use to keep yourself safe while running. Her goal is to share the worksheet with 5,000 individuals in 2021.
“Regardless of your background, ethnicity, culture, age, or gender, you should always have a safety plan,” Thompson says. “But if we have one that we're able to coach to everyone, they can share it and start that ripple effect.”
“I'm hoping [Wisáwca Project] provides people with the confidence and the ability to ensure their own safety,” she says.
Here is a breakdown of the steps recommended by Thompson in the Wisáwca Project.
Find your support.
First, identify the individuals in your support network. These are the people that you can trust to come to your aid if you’re in trouble. Make a long list—it can include partners, relatives, guardians, friends, children, coaches, counselors, teachers, or anyone else you really trust. From there, identify the person you trust most deeply, and ask them if they're willing to be on the safety plan with you. That means that you’ll be looping them in on your activities and movements in the future, and they’ll need to act first if you were to go missing. “I feel it to be a pretty big responsibility,” Thompson says. “When you're going through this worksheet and after you get done filling it out, you really sit down and have the conversation with your support because it's heavy duty. You're the frontline person.”
Fill out the safety plan worksheet with their name, relation to you, and contact information. Once you complete the worksheet, you’ll sign it and share a copy with them.
Identify the places you go.
Whether it’s your morning run, the gym, the office, or school, everyone has a different routine with specific routes, modes of transportation, and places they go on a daily basis. Fill out this section of the worksheet with your daily schedule, location, and people you interact with during each activity.
Schedule notifications with your support team.
Decide how often the person on the plan with you should expect to hear from you. It could be every few days, or every time you head out for a run. That way, if a few days go by without a phone call or text from you, they know something could be wrong.
If you’re running, Thompson suggests bringing your phone and sharing your location with your support team via text message. iPhone users can also share their location through privacy protected GPS applications like Find My, which allows you to share your location with individuals you select.
Save emergency contacts.
Thompson recommends you distinguish your support team in your phone as emergency contacts and provide more details on who the person is in relation to you. For example, listing someone as “John Doe—Husband” would be helpful if you lose your phone and someone finds it. With the emergency contact distinction, they’d be able to identify who to call to return your phone.
Share electronic device passwords.
With technology playing such a big role in our lives, having one or two people in your support network who have access to your accounts can help aid in a search. On the worksheet, Thompson recommends individuals list the applications, devices, usernames, and passwords they use. “Keeping this information readily available to your support could be especially helpful to law enforcement, if you ever go missing,” she says.
During the investigation of her cousin’s death, Thompson and her family weren’t aware of the level of abuse her cousin was experiencing from her boyfriend at the time. After gaining access to her electronic devices, they learned her boyfriend had abused her and was cheating on her with another woman. From text message exchanges, they discovered her cousin was planning to get in contact with the other woman before she disappeared and was later found dead.
“When she had first gone missing, if we had known her passwords and were able to get in [her phone], we would have seen the conversations that were being had and known who we needed to go to,” Thompson says.
Create a red flag list.
This step should be shared in the worksheet and discussed in detail with your support network. A red flag list includes people you would avoid—abusive exes, a stalker, or toxic relationships, for example. Know that if someone saw you with this individual, your support team would be on high alert.
“Women are afraid to hurt someone's feelings when it comes to this list...they're afraid to admit that there's someone out there that could potentially take advantage of them, whether it be a woman or a man,” Thompson says. “You have to think: potentially if something were to happen to you, who should law enforcement look at?”
On the worksheet, participants are asked to list the name, occupation, and relation of the person who would be considered a red flag if you were to interact with them.
“This is a very private list that is only accessible to you and to your support,” Thompson says.
Share the place you turn to for solace.
In her discussions with law enforcement officials, Thompson learned they often ask if there is a specific location the missing person might frequent by themselves. For example, some seek out a space to meditate or pray alone. “This is our safe space to relieve stress, but it is important to let our support know if we go to this location or where this place is, in case we go missing,” Thompson says. She encourages individuals to write down the location and drop a pin so their support team can save it in their phone.
Put local police dispatch on speed dial.
In the event of an emergency, always dial 911. But you should also program your local police dispatch number into your phone to report a crime or a non-emergency situation. On the worksheet, Thompson points out that most dispatch centers go by jurisdiction. “If you travel off of the reservation, or to different cities, counties or states, you’ll need those various numbers, as well,” she says.
Create alternate routes.
This step is especially important for runners who log miles in their communities. If possible, switch up your route and the time of day you run at least twice per week to ensure that a predatory individual won’t be able to rely on you being in a specific place.
“We do tell people if you have a set route and you feel that your support knows where you're at at all times when you're on that route, it's ok to stick with that,” Thompson says. “ But if you feel like maybe you're being followed or if somebody has finally figured out your schedule, you may want to change it up.”
Thompson likes to remind athletes that changing workout locations will incorporate different weather elements, terrain, and elevation, and can be beneficial to your progress. “[Changing routes and routine] helps keep your training challenging, but then also ensures your safety to make sure that there's not an individual out there that could ever say, ‘I know that they're going to be at this spot this time,’” she says.
Train your mind to think in detailed descriptions.
Police officers ask for specific and distinct details during investigations. Remembering details of an assailant—including their physical characteristics, clothing, and behavior—can be crucial information to share with law enforcement in handling a missing person case.
“If someone goes missing, the first 24 hours are huge and if you're able to get a good physical description from anyone, then that's going to definitely help the case progress in locating someone,” Thompson says.
When Thompson coaches individuals to create their own safety plan, she asks them to do a series of exercises to train their minds for remembering these details. First, she asks them to write down everything they’re wearing at that moment. Then she will show them a photo for 30 seconds and ask them to write down a detailed description of the person in the picture, prompting their mind to recall physical descriptions that would set the individual apart.
This exercise is also important in identifying detailed descriptions of a person who goes missing. Thompson also recommends taking photographs of your loved ones and children every day. “You’ll always have something to reference if they were to go missing, but also, you’ll have an album full of pictures to show your kids as they get older.”
Consider security cameras for your home or vehicle.
In Thompson’s situation, installing security cameras in her car gave her more peace of mind when leaving her home. She purchased her dash camera from Walmart, and she encourages individuals to research the best recording devices for them, including dash cameras, home security systems, and body cameras.
Take self-defense or weapons training.
While recognizing that an in-person self-defense class can be difficult to find during the COVID-19 pandemic, Thompson encourages consistent training whenever possible. And if individuals feel confident carrying self-defense weapons, she recommends they do diligent research and training in order to use the tool safely.
If you’d like to create your own safety plan with the Wisáwca Project, register to receive the worksheet here.
Taylor Dutch is a writer and editor living in Austin, Texas, and a former NCAA track athlete who specializes in fitness, wellness, and endurance sports coverage. Her work has appeared in Runner’s World, SELF, Bicycling, Outside, and Podium Runner.
