IMPACT Boston

 

Administrative Staff

Meg Stone, Director & Instructor

Meg began working with survivors of domestic violence in 1993, and since that time has served as a legal advocate, hotline counselor, overnight shelter worker, trainer of health care providers, research assistant, qualitative evaluator, event planner, and program manager. Meg earned a Master of Public Health degree from Boston University in 2004 with a concentration in long-term health effects of abuse and abuse prevention. Meg created the Take Your Power and Peer IMPACT curricula. As Director of IMPACT, Meg oversees training and prevention programs in schools, businesses, and community organizations. She also developed and coordinates the Project SAFE internship program for homeless parents.

Nina Romá Agvanian, Assistant Director
(Bilingual in Spanish)

Nina managed a Violence Prevention program out of the Sexual Assault Crisis Center in New Haven, Connecticut before coming to IMPACT. Having served as a rape crisis counselor, she was drawn to IMPACT because of its focus on the physical in the healing process. At IMPACT, Nina helps to coordinate Project SAFE and supervises Project SAFE interns, coordinates Basics, Advanced classes, and Trauma Survivor Programs, co-facilitates the Take Your Power program, and serves as a teaching assistant and translator.

 

Instructors

Steve Buonomo

Steve is an experienced martial artist with a black belt in Kung Fu. In 2006, he developed and implemented a Tai Chi and physical fitness program for adults with cognitive and psychiatric disabilities.

Julie Char

Julie has served as a volunteer assistant for IMPACT since 2001 and began training to become an IMPACT instructor in 2007. She is the most recent recipient of IMPACT’s Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service. As an assistant, Julie has worked in Women’s Basics, Teen Basics, and Take Your Power.

Paul Falcone

Paul holds a second degree black belt in Shotokan Karate and has studied many different martial arts. When not at IMPACT, Paul is a freelance videographer shooting everything from documentaries to weddings.

Sean Greene

(Bilingual in Spanish)

Sean has practiced martial arts including Kung Fu and Aikido since 1980. Having grown up in a neighborhood where he was a witness to and target of violence, Sean has always maintained a strong interest in learning and teaching self-defense. He is a former member of the Guardian Angels, and his professional experience includes security and law enforcement. Sean currently works as a Vocational Counselor at Triangle, where he helps people with psychiatric disabilities find and maintain employment.

Johanna Hattendorf

Jo is an ordained United Church of Christ minister with over 20 years of experience in parish ministry. She is a second-degree black belt in Kung Fu and currently teaches Tai Chi. Jo is a member of the National Women’s Martial Arts Federation and is a certified Martial Arts Self-Defense Instructor. Additionally, as a survivor of childhood physical and sexual abuse, she has a deep understanding of issues of violence and trauma, how it is stored in the body, and how it affects all levels of our being. She has extensive experience working with survivors of trauma, as well as all those who are seeking to live in personal safety.

Amanda Hoeg

Amanda became involved in IMPACT in June 2007 when she participated in the Project SAFE internship Program while she was living at Crossroads Family Homeless Shelter in East Boston. Amanda was so successful that IMPACT hired for a permanent position. Since she was a teen, Amanda has dreamed of helping those who struggle with the effects of abuse and poverty by sharing both her struggles and her strengths. Amanda has served as a teaching assistant for IMPACT classes in homeless shelters and youth centers, provided computer and administrative training to Project SAFE interns, and led the process of adapting the Take Your Power curriculum to make it more relevant to teens and young adults.

Kevin Jacobus

Kevin is a photojournalist who has trained in Brazilian and Japanese styles of Jujitsu as well as Mixed Martial Arts. After over a decade of covering news stories for various Massachusetts and New Hampshire newspapers that sometimes involved victims of violence, he often found himself advocating self-defense training. Fulfilling a desire to convey simple, practical and effective self-defense skills, Kevin became an instructor in 2006.

Meron Langsner

(Bilingual in Hebrew)

Meron is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Drama and Dance at Tufts University, with a focus on representations of violence on stage. He has choreographed fight scenes for numerous Boston-area theater companies including Lyric Stage, New Repertory Theater, and Zeitgeist Stage. Meron’s 20 years of Martial Arts experience includes Karate, Jud, Kali, and Jeet Kun Do.

Antoria Lee

Antoria became involved in IMPACT in June of 2008 when she was a resident of Millennium House Shelter. Upon graduation from IMPACT's Project SAFE program she became interested in playing the role of an assailant so that other women could develop the strength to keep themselves safe. Her involvement in sports includes playing football as a child, soft ball as a teen, and boxing now as an adult. In addition to teaching IMPACT classes a schools, shelters and community centers she
volunteers for We Learn: Women leading through reading.

Aleks Nowicki

(Bilingual in Mandarin Chinese)

Aleks has studied and taught martial arts for over 10 years. He works as a preschool teacher by day and a bouncer by night. Aleks has been with IMPACT since 2005.

Mike Perry

Mike has 17 years of experience teaching IMPACT and is the primary trainer for new suited instructors. A 30-year veteran of martial arts with multiple black belts, he currently teaches grappling techniques. Mike developed IMPACT’s Defense Against Firearms and Defense Against Knives and Edged Weapons courses as well as IMPACT’s program for blind and visually impaired teens. Mike is the coach instructor in IMPACT’s Men’s Basics class.

Ana Reyes

(Bilingual in Spanish)

Ana is an experienced martial artist with a second-degree black belt in Taekwondo. She teaches Taekwondo and photography throughout Massachusetts. A freelance photographer and video editor, Ana is working on a series of portraits of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

Rufus Royal

Rufus has taught IMPACT for over 10 years. He is a police officer with extensive experience working with individuals with both criminal backgrounds and psychiatric disabilities. He also serves as a mentor to formerly incarcerated individuals living in halfway houses. Rufus played a key role in the development of IMPACT’s Project SAFE homeless shelter curriculum and has extensive experience teaching IMPACT to abuse survivors and teens in low-income urban neighborhoods.

Jim Watson

Jim is a senior instructor who has been with Impact since 1996. He has a background in alternative healing and peer counseling. In 2003 he traveled to South Africa to teach IMPACT programs to women and children and served as the primary trainer of the South Africa Project’s suited instructor. Jim is one of the developers of IMPACT’s Take Your Power program and school-based programs. He assists in the training of new instructors and co-teaches most of IMPACT’s advanced courses. Jim has extensive experience teaching trauma survivors and is deeply committed to helping people regain their sense of power.

Keith Wick

Keith is a licensed clinical social worker with experience treating incarcerated sex offenders. He currently works with youth in an alternative school setting. Keith has been an IMPACT instructor since 2001.