Wondering whether you are a good Martial Arts coach?

That's not so important - As long as you IMPROVE!

The Drive to Thrive

Discover trauma informed core principles and optimal skill acquisition methods used by two Purple Belts with the Drive to create a Safe, Inclusive (LGTBQ+) and Challenging Learning Environment to go from a few students to a Thriving and competitive team where about 50% are women - that STAY!

Become the most Effective Trauma Informed Martial Arts Instructor You can Be! 

We are in the business of helping people Thrive, not finding reasons why they can't.

In which business are YOU?

ENROLL in ThriveDrive Today!

A Trauma Informed teaching style is the optimal method to guarantee a safe and inclusive gym culture where everybody can thrive

 

  • The first Complete, Step-by-Step Trauma Informed Coaching Training for Martial Artists
  • Become a Certified Trauma Informed Martial Arts Instructor / Training Partner
  • Trauma or Traumatic Experiences are one of the main reasons people enter a Martial Arts School. 70% of people in the West will experience at least one traumatic experience. That means that when you have 100 students, 70 will struggle with their mental health at a given time. 
  • Learn how to set all your Students up for Success by understanding Trauma and How to help them heal
  • Group Coaching Calls with experts on trauma, mental health, coaching, learning and more
  • In-depth understanding of learning and skill development that enable you to Teach The Student In Front Of You effectively
  • Personal development: transform yourself and your Students into Strong, Confident and Skillful Individuals
  • Step-by-Step processes that transform your classes, Safeguarding Measures as well as Personal and Interpersonal relations
  • Amazing guest speakers that go in-depth on topics like PTSD, ADHD, Autism, limiting beliefs, etc., and how these relate to Martial Arts
  • Brawler Tactics: Optimal Skill Development for Martial Arts to get your students to the next level fast
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Here is what You will get:

The 3 Pillars of the ThriveDrive Method

 
 

The 3 pillars together is what makes the ThriveDrive Method unique from other Trauma Informed Courses.

Focusing on only 1 pillar gives you for instance knowledge, but not the insight of how TO DO WHAT and WHY. When you know WHAT to do but you lack the knowledge it won't be fruitful either. Without the other two it won't be as impactful nor will it be complete.  

What's more, this method does not only focus on trauma, but also on personal development and step for step proven strategies that support you to facilitate a healthy and growth minded martial arts community where everyone can thrive.

 

  • Weekly group coaching calls with experts on various themes
  • Two 1 on 1 60min coaching sessions with Alex or Laurien where it is all about YOU, your goals, your challenges etc.
  • Lifetime access to all future and previous group coaching calls. This platform is designed as a growing directory that you can use as you need it, not necessarily to go through 'cover to cover'. 
  • Prerecorded videos about what is Trauma, how it can show up on the mats, the neurobiology of trauma and how to respond during a mental first aid emergency. 
  • The 8 Trauma Informed Coaching Principles
  • Strategies how to create and maintain a safe space.
  • Strategies to create trauma informed classes / specific courses
  • Conversation starter games, to help people feel safe and welcomed. These games also help with making touch less scary or triggering
  • Trauma Informed Certification upon completion!
  • And much more....

Our Promise is that you:


- become a next level version of yourself!
- become trauma informed
- shift to a growth mindset, gain self-trust, self-belief and confidence so that you are READY for what life or the mats throws at you
- will be supported by our community along the way to discover and create YOUR healthy gym culture that will impact many!

We know most of you are highly skilled in martial arts and are perhaps in addition successful competitors.

Coaching, however, is a whole new skillset that needs mastery. You may feel insecure about how to share your expertise, unsure how to address uncomfortable situations when they arise on the mats (and they WILL!), you may not know yet how to tune into the different thinker and learner types, nor how to bring back someone having a panic attack or traumatic memory. 

We promise you that you will. 

Your current situation / choices may have set you up for success regarding martial arts know-how but 'failed' to set you up for success when it comes to learning and teaching. 

Well, let's say goodbye to failure and say welcome to success and most importantly to LEARNING.

You will accept potential limitations and within those perimeters (which will GROW!) you will work hard in a safe yet challenging environment. You will learn how to hold space for your students, how to effectively and confidently go through re-orientation activities when you have a mental first aid emergency, you will learn how to step for step make a student grappling with trauma feel welcome and not judged in your school. You will learn about cognitive distortions, how to recognise them in yourself and your students and how to reverse them.

We promise you that you will learn the intricacies of this art in a way that suits your way of thinking and learning.

But you must help us to help you. If you don't give anything, don't expect anything. Success and learning (however you define it) is not coming to you, you must come to it.

What is Trauma? How does Trauma effect Body and Mind?

A deep Dive in what Trauma is from a neurobiological and cognitive psychological perspective, how it manifests itself on the mats, how to Recognise Signs of traumatic behaviours and how to Support and Help your Students with Trauma.

The Importance of the Parasympathetic Nervous System

What is the Parasympathetic Nervous System and how does it affect Trauma and our learning experience? What role does it play in bringing Someone Back from a traumatic experience and how does it affect our coping mechanisms and learning experiences? In this module we cover the Mental First Aid ABC Protocol, as well as do's and dont's in bringing students back after panic or anxiety attacks as well traumatic memories and flashbacks. 

What Makes a Coach Effective and Successful?

Debunk Your OWN Stories and Self-Limiting Beliefs AND those of your Students. Help create rewarding narratives that overwrite threat-response in the amygdala of your students. You can read every book ever written about trauma but when you haven't done the work yourself, it is hard to apply it during your classes and expect your students to step out of their comfort zone. That is like saying you can learn a martial arts with techniques ONLY without sparring afterwards. 

Teach the Person in Front of You!

Discover about the 4 Learning and Thinking Types. How to incorporate all of them during your classes, so that no one is left behind! Also learn about cognitive psychological models that help students assess themselves and create new and rewarding behaviour patterns leading to success (however they define success for themselves).

Safeguarding Measures that Work

Learn how to Create and maintain a Safe Learning Environment for every Student: from Garage Dojo's to large and established (competitive) Academies. No matter the size, there is always a Strategy to create Safety and Calmness. Learn 'conversation starter' games for people grappling with trauma that need more time to get comfortable with the uncomfortable (think of touch and sparring). 

Strategies to Widen your Students' Window of Tolerance

Learn how to meet your students where THEY are At. What is the 'Window of Tolerance' and through which Methods can you help your Students 'widen' that Window? In this module we will offer several games and other methods to optimise your students' training experience.

ENROLL in ThriveDrive Today!

What fellow martial arts instructors say about ThriveDrive Method:

Sarah, co-founder of Chinkilla - Empowering women to fight back.

Christine, BJJ Coach, specialised in teaching Ladies Only classes - about ThriveDrive:

'I’ve been training different martial arts for most of my life. My martial arts journey began when I was seven years old and I ended up doing Jiu Jitsu when I was sixteen. Usually, I was the only female student at the gym where I trained back then and I’ve always asked myself why there weren’t any other females.

One day I changed gyms but there were still very few women. The day I was promoted to blue belt, I’ve set a personal goal for myself: I wanted to get more females into the sport.

I started teaching womens only classes a few years ago and realized that most of my students decided to start martial arts training for two reasons. Either they were afraid of violance or they had already experienced violance. I was shocked.

That’s when I realized that Mental Health will always be part of the game.

Thrive Drive was a perfect opportunity to get myself educated about mental health issues I might face when teaching classes – especially womens only classes. I did not only learn about different scenarios that could happen, I was also given many tools on how to be a better understanding person and overall a good coach to people struggeling with a mental illness.

Apart from learning how to create a safe environment for my students, I got the chance to review a lot of the challenges I face when training myself. I am a trauma survivor and am dealing with several mental health issues such as c-PTSD, psychogenic non-epileptic seizures and depression. The course gave me a reality check and I will be more alert to my own symptoms for the future.

Laurien and Alex are great human beings overall and it’s always a personal gain getting in touch with them.

Mental health struggels are not a shame. We have to end the stigma. We have to talk about it.

Thank you Laurien and Alex for putting up this course.

Sarah, co-founder of Chinkilla - Empowering women to fight back.

Sarah, co-founder of Chinkilla - Empowering women to fight back about ThriveDrive:

'As someone who works regularly with women in self-defense and martial arts, ThriveDrive offered exactly what I was looking for: how to be a better coach for traumatized people. It helped me better understand trauma in myself and others, and how to respond when flashbacks occur. Laurien and Alex have a very inspiring backstory, and they bring their passion into this course. It was very insightful to hear their experiences in their own gym, and to ask specific questions about my own classes. The one-on-one with Laurien was a great addition and really gave me a chance to open up about my own struggles. I highly recommend this course; first aid for mental health needs to be brought to the forefront. It’s a great chance for martial arts gyms in particular to step up and take on the responsibility of being trauma-informed.'

Sarah, co-founder of Chinkilla - Empowering women to fight back.

Conny, BJJ instructor about ThriveDrive:

'A big shoutout and huge thank you too @teamlaurienalex @off_the_zone @laurienzurhake for being absolutely amazing human beings!!! Not only have they started a school from scratch but they developed an online course to help others aswell.

I took part in their course to be a #traumainformed #traumainformedmartiaarts via #thrivedrivemethod' & #offthezone met some amazing ladies online, learned a lot about triggers and about myself. Then as if this wasn't good enough I get this fantastic little package from them with a handwritten note (which meant more to me than the rest 🤪). Keep doing what you are doing guys.

Stef, Gracie Jiu Jitsu instructor about ThriveDrive:

'I’m a Gracie Jiu Jitsu instructor and even though I teach and I immerse myself in all programs at my academy from our BullyProof classes to our advanced MasterCycle class for adults, my passion project and the driving force for me seeking additional knowledge on how the body deals with trauma and how it manifests both physically and mentally came from my ladies in the Women Empowered program.

The content of our self defence based Jiu Jitsu program made me realise that as an instructor I wasn’t only giving my ladies a tool to defend themselves from a potential situation but rather in some cases, the tools to help them overcome the trauma and heal from situations that had already occurred. I needed to understand how I could better hold space for them and facilitate that healing process.

And then I found Off The Zone. By chance or luck or the universe I stumbled upon Laurien and Alex’s course, A Trauma Informed Approach to Coaching Mixed Martial Arts. This course is so much more than simply what is trauma? I am amazed at the wealth of knowledge and content provided on the online studying platform, and better yet that as you continue throughout the course more content is created and added to the library, including recordings of live Zoom meetings with trauma experts.

It was such a well laid out course, with weekly meetings to discuss and deep dive into each pillar of understanding and process of trauma. Each week added a new layer. Beginning with the origins and understanding of trauma, early research and updated research on how this manifests in the body but honestly by the end of the course you transcend the textbook knowledge and begin to reflect internally. Everybody has experienced some form of trauma in their life. The course allows a space for you to reflect on your own traumas, how have they shaped you? And then offers a tool box to which you can go to to help yourself reprogram some of the beliefs in your mind so that you can grow as a person and therefore be the best version of yourself and act as the perfect guide to your students.

By the end you are fully kitted out with enough tools to pull out and problem solve with any situation you may encounter as an instructor.

Finally, I will say this course is really about, guidance, growth and community. Laurien is exceptional in one on one meetings with holding a space for you to understand your questions, concerns, fears as both someone who has stepped into a leadership role as a coach, as well as just a sound board for you to mull over some of the things you grapple with in your own life. This in turn, leads to an exceptional amount of self growth, and a feeling of connection, belonging and community by being surrounded by like-minded people who are eager to learn and grow as well. Now I can translate that to my academy, guide my students, facilitate growth, create a community.

Thank you and I am so happy to be a part of this team.'

Wanting to get to know us and our WHY? Tune in into the following podcasts with Nattie Boss & Women Who Fight!

Trauma Informed is for "Softies"

 

Consider this for a moment: No matter how tough your Martial Art is, grappling with Trauma is harder.

Someone who is struggling with Trauma needs a lot of COURAGE to enter a martial arts gym in the first place.

When someone that brave steps out of their comfort zone and comes to you,

What do YOU do, so that they realize it was the right decision to make this HUGE step?

How do YOU keep them safe? How do YOU support them?

Learn Trauma Informed Coaching Principles

How much does ThriveDrive cost?

not 1728€, ONLY 349€ All-in

Consider for one moment the cost of potentially retraumatising one person on your mats. One person is already one too many.
Consider how much more YOU can support YOUR Students by learning to assess their needs and window of tolerance effectively. Not being Trauma Informed, might cost you students or potential students that actually want to start but don't dare, because they don't know whether they are going to be safe or judged.

Not fully realizing the potential of applying Martial Arts as a therapeutical tool means that YOU miss out as a coach. You are most likely not a licensed therapist so you can't offer therapy, but you can support your student's healing processes and hold space for them.

We get it. It is hard to get your message out and reach prospective students, especially women. Learning how to get your messaging right and make them feel safe and welcome BEFORE they even enter your school will have huge impact on their decision making.

KNOW BETTER and DO BETTER!

ENROLL in ThriveDrive Today!

FULL 30 Day Money-Back Guarantee

Your satisfaction is extremely important to us. If you decide this program isn`t right for you, we offer a 30-day refund of 100% of your purchase price. 

BONUS #1: two times 1-on-1 Call with us

  • We want to get to KNOW YOU and support YOU (€180 value)

BONUS #2: Work with Trauma Experts

  • Four additional Trauma Experts will be joining us during our group coaching calls, so that you are presented with the latest evidence based Trauma Informed Strategies (€1000 value)
  • We ensure that YOU get the most out of this course and limited the course to 20 participants so that we can focus on YOUR needs and YOUR questions
  • This course is interactive which works best in a small group

BONUS #3: Ever growing resources

  • Through PDFs, videos, Infographics and more (and the resources page is growing indefinitely!) we support you to implement Trauma Informed Coaching effectively (€199 value) 
  • Each time we launch you can join our group coaching calls for free! We will invite different inspirational speakers every time, so that we keep up to date and improve! (∞ €349 value)

The Business Value of ThriveDrive

The average monthly dropout rate in Martial Arts schools is about 10%. There are many factors for student retention but the biggest one is the coaches teaching skill. By employing the principles of the ThriveDrive method we cut the dropout rate down to about 2-3%. This is huge! Imagine how much faster you can grow your team in size and level if more of your students stay!

At the same time being Trauma Informed helps you to lower the threshold for people to come through that door and start training with you!

Now it's up to you to do the math, but in a small school with only 100 members and a monthly fee of only 50€ you will have earned back the cost of ThriveDrive within one month of lowering the dropout rate from 10% to 3%! You will make this happen within the first three months of employing the ThriveDrive Method.

ENROLL in ThriveDrive Today!

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