Keisha Lancelin, host of the community affairs TV program Focus Atlanta on the CW Atlanta, WUPA, interviewed AVERT Director Darcy Leutzinger. They discussed why training on how to respond in an active shooter situation is so important.

Recently, times have been difficult for many of us as tragedy and violent incidents have happened across the nation. The frequency of these tragedies are on the rise, increasing in number seemingly every day. No one should have to face situations such as what we have seen in Buffalo and Uvalde, but unfortunately, they still happen.

Many of us are left wondering, “How do we stay safe? How do we keep our children safe? What happens if we are in a situation where there is an active shooter?” One answer to these questions starts with preparedness training that can prove vital to responding to a situation of active violence.

Active Violence Emergency Response Training (AVERT), is a program backed by decades of experience in law enforcement, medical treatment, and corporate security. AVERT provides specific, highly detailed training on how to respond to an active violence incident.

AVERT focuses on three main areas: Escape, Evade, and Attack. In addition, the training teaches several specific bleeding control techniques and applications, all of which can prove critical to saving lives and mitigating loss in an active violence incident.

AVERT takes skills that were once reserved for first responders and makes them accessible for teaching the public how to react quickly and become immediate responders. AVERT has been taught in corporations, churches, government buildings, schools, healthcare facilities and venues—hundreds of organizations have trusted us to train their employees, members and students.