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DART, Inc., is a Colorado nonprofit corporation that provides professional instruction in the prevention and management of violence in the workplace, in relationships, and in any other setting where the possibility of violence exists along with effective personal safety training.
DART's violence prevention courses were designed by experienced personal safety experts and educators to be practical, effective and easily learned and retained.
All of DART’s violence prevention and personal safety courses can be customized to the client’s needs.
Workshops are provided at the client facility by trained and professional DART instructors.
All of DART’s violence prevention courses and personal safety training courses are constantly being updated and improved. Exit evaluations are done after each DART workshop and the results are provided to the client facility.
Guiding Principles For DART Training
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Active Learning |
All DART violence prevention training incorporates active learning principles where techniques taught are practiced and appropriate scenarios employed. |
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Continuous Improvement |
DART believes that evaluation and feedback are essential to quality training. By employing consistent evaluation and feedback procedures, DART is able to improve and fine-tune its program over time. |
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Appropriateness |
DART developed and offers training that is appropriate for the general population regardless of an individual’s size, previous training, or physical conditioning. |
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Highly Trained Instructors |
All DART instructors must complete a thorough training and evaluation process before being certified as a DART instructor. |
Highly Skilled
Curriculum Developers |
Professionals in education, counseling, police work, security, workplace violence law, and martial arts provide the expertise and balance needed to develop highly effective violence prevention training that is easily learned and retained. |
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Focus on the Client |
DART recognizes that each client has specialized needs and works with each individual client to see that their unique concerns are met. |
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Follow-up Training |
DART recognizes that the physical skills taught in an initial workshop require periodic practice/reinforcement. DART therefore will customize a follow-up training program for its clients upon request. |
What does DART stand for?
Defensive Awareness Response Training
What does DART do?
DART, Inc. is a Colorado nonprofit corporation that provides professional instruction in the prevention and management of violence in the workplace, in relationships, and in any other setting where the possibility of violence exists along with offering effective personal safety training. DART teaches a variety of workshops from an introductory to advanced level, each lasting between 2-6 hours, focusing on individual client needs. While DART is headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, DART also offers violence prevention and personal safety training to companies, governments, schools, hospitals, and other organizations throughout the United States. The statistics on workplace violence show that the issue is becoming more important, and many organizations choose DART to help their employees and reduce the chance of workplace violence at their facility.
Where do you teach DART workshops?
For your convenience, DART violence prevention and personal safety training is usually provided at the client’s facility.
Our facility has special issues that we need to deal with?
Our workshops operate along a set curriculum, but we allow for customization according to your specific needs. Depending on the issues you are dealing with, and the depth of training that you require, DART will conference with one of your representatives by phone or conduct in-person interviews.
Who designs your curriculum?
DART’s curriculum was designed by educators, counselors, personal safety experts, security experts, workplace violence experts, lawyers with expertise in the laws governing workplace violence, experts in dating violence, martial artists, and police instructors to be practical, effective and easily learned and retained. Time in any DART course is time well spent. DART's courses are proven and highly effective.
Our participants are not in great physical shape. Is this a problem?
Not at all. DART has successfully taught participants regardless of age, size, gender or physical conditioning.
How long has DART been providing violence prevention training?
DART officially opened its door on January 1, 2000.
Why DART?
DART is a nonprofit group dedicated to violence prevention. We work with our client’s individual needs to insure their greatest benefit from our training. DART collects evaluations from all workshop participants to continually improve the quality of our services. All DART instructors are certified having completed a rigorous training program. DART has been providing training in violence prevention, personal safety, awareness, verbal de-escalation, and self-defense for twelve years. DART's clients include businesses, hospitals, government organizations, and celebrities.
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Attention Homes
Boulder Community Hospital
Boulder County Health Department
Calvary United Methodist Church in Colorado Springs
City of Westminster
City of Lakewood
Colorado Plains Medical Center
Community Health
Denver Nuggets Cheerleaders
Friends First
Girl Scouts Mile Hi Council
Kremmling Memorial Hospital
Kroenke Sports/The Pepsi Center
McKee Medical Center
North Colorado Medical Center
Platte Valley Medical Center
People’s Clinic
Special Transit
Salud Family Health Centers
Town of Superior
Turning Point Center for Youth & Family Development
A Woman’s Place
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Instructor Bios
DART Senior Instructors
Dr. Paul Dusenbery has taught martial arts for over 27 years and currently holds the rank of 8th degree Black Belt in the C&S Self-Defense Association. Through running a martial arts school he gained experience in teaching young, old, men, women, and children. He has successfully instructed people who are in good physical condition and those in bad, those who are afraid and those with self-confidence problems. Dr. Dusenbery has given numerous demonstrations for schools, scout groups, and rape-prevention teams, along with having taught special self-defense courses for women. Besides teaching karate, he works as a space scientist, a writer, lecturer, and currently serves as the executive director of the Space Science Institute.
Charles Fussman has over 5 years of experience in the martial arts, including 1 ½ years in Tae Kwon Doe and 3 1/2 years in Karate. He is a 1st degree Black Belt. He is currently an active assistant instructor at Chung Fu-do, a Ft. Collins based Karate dojo. In addition, he has completed DART's Lead Instructor Training Course, has taught numerous DART workshops and aided in teaching a Lead Instructor Training Course. Mr. Fussman holds a Bachelor of Science in Human Development and Family Studies from Colorado State University (CSU) and has completed the coursework to earn a Certificate for CSU's Nonprofit Agency Administration Interdisciplinary Studies Program.
DART Instructors – Lead & Assistant
Mark Cohen grew up in Denver. He received a BA in Economics from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington in 1980, and a JD from Univ. of Colorado at Boulder in 1983. Mr. Cohen served for four years as an Air Force Judge Advocate and in 1986 received the ABA’s Outstanding Young Military Service Lawyer award. He also served as Special Assistant U.S. Attorney in Nebraska. Mark has practiced law for 29 years and has authored six articles in the American Jurisprudence Proof of Facts series, along with many other legal and non-legal articles. He wrote a monograph on negligent operation of a gymnasium or martial arts studio and authored two articles for INSIDE KUNG FU on the law self defense. He also authored an article for The Colorado Lawyer titled Elements of an Effective Workplace Violence Program. He also wrote the chapter on workplace violence in the Colorado Employment Law Handbook. Mr. Cohen spent seven years as a prosecutor for the City of Westminster and nearly two years as a municipal judge for the City of Boulder. He served on the Board of Trustees of the Town of Nederland and also served on the Executive Board of the Colorado Municipal League. He now serves on the Board of Editors of The Colorado Lawyer. His first mystery, The Fractal Murders, was a Book Sense® Top Ten Mystery Selection. He lives with his wife, three children, two border collies, one bloodhound, one cat, and one guinea pig. He is a shareholder with The Cohen Law Group, PC. His interests are karate, weightlifting, reading, and writing. He is a 1st degree Black Belt and teaches at the Flatirons Karate Club.
John Patterson currently holds a 2nd degree Black Belt. He was a former head instructor for the Rochester Karate Club (1986-1988) and the Fort Collins Karate Club (1989-1995). Mr. Patterson was a self-defense instructor at both Lincoln Land Community College (1985-88) and Eastern Illinois University. He has completed DART's Lead Instructor Training Course, has taught many DART workshops, and has provided valuable input to DART curriculum development.
Sarah Jo Fintelmann was a Law Enforcement Explorer for seven years. Through out that time she worked with several different communities: Louisville Police department, Lafayette Police department and Boulder County Sheriffs department. Ms. Fintelmann’s duties as an Explorer (cadet) included assisting the commissioned officers in their everyday situations from traffic stops to domestic situations. Each Explorer Post did a number of activities within the community including fundraisers, assisting in traffic and citizen patrol at parades, and controlling crime scenes. At the Colorado Institute of Law Enforcement Academy, Sarah was trained in PPCT (Pressure Point Control Tactics), DUI detection, firearms, high speed driving, crime scene investigations, report writing, hostage negotiating and much more. She earned the class award for the PPCT. While still in the academy, Ms. Fintelmann was hired on with the Gilpin County Sheriffs Department as a Reserve Deputy in their county jail. There some of her duties were as follows: booking inmates, observing inmates, keeping facility security, and transporting prisoners. She is currently a student at Chung-Fu-Do martial arts school in Ft. Collins, Colorado.
Robin Wilkewitz earned her B.A. in Fine Arts from the University of Southern California and holds a graduate degree in Theology. She currently holds a 3rd degree Brown Belt in the C&S Self Defense Association. Robin developed, along with her husband, a Women's Self Defense course which they have taught for over 12 years providing a unique male/female perspective. Reaching out, teaching other options, and helping women to heal has been her life-long passion.
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