John earned his first black belt in the martial arts at the age of 13 in 1977. He continued exploring and training in different forms of self-defense throughout high school and college. During his senior year at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, John had a school project for a communications class and he chose to interview adults and children who had escaped from violent confrontations. 

John discovered for every tragic abduction, there are people who got away. Using behavioral modeling (i.e. other people's experience for short) he set out to learn what specific thoughts and actions helped each adult and child escape from their kidnappers. Almost 20 years later, he is still examining and learning from others who have stopped abduction attempts.

After college, while working for General Mills, John was asked to teach a kids safety program for an employee family event. One program lead to another and in 1988 he began teaching anti-abduction programs for children and adults full time. For the past 18 years John has been leading programs at corporations and schools nationwide. From Procter & Gamble to rural schools in South Dakota, John has brought his motivating and interactive learning adventure called Kid Escape! to thousands of children. In 2003, John's parent training video, Kid Escape! From Child Abductors, received the prestigious Telly Award (given out nationally for video production excellence) in the "how to" category.

Kid Escape! fills a critically important void in child abduction prevention training. Children are taught to make noise, to shout, to yell, to run, to resist, to strike, to pull away and so on - all great information. But the challenge is conditioning our children to automatically respond and STOP a child predator without hesitation or self-doubt because if our children have to stop and think, it might be too late. John's life purpose to help children learn Kid Escape! moves is fulfilled everyday through his web site www.KidEscape.org where he offers a free eNewsletter subscription along with training videos and programs for families and organizations.

Contact John Hall:
johnhall@kidescape.org
www.kidescape.org