The Basics
Safest Family on the Block is what happens when a 6th degree black belt, journalist, and father of two spends too much time talking with experts about how to keep our families safe. What kinds of experts? Well, for example...
A Paramedic Captain about preventing child injuries
A suicide counselor on early warning signs
A defense investigator on how criminals choose victims
A school administrator and retired Marine on school safety
A SWAT leader on how to keep intruders out of the home
A medic on building the perfect family first aid kit
A martial arts teacher on how to defeat bullies
A Verbal Judo instructor on communicating with our kids
A consumer journalist about product safety
A bodyguard on travel safety techniques and preparation
And lots, lots more. We've completed over 100 full-length interviews with no signs of stopping any time soon. Your support will help bring this important information to families, martial arts schools, public schools, and public safety departments worldwide.
Besides the YouTube channel and accompanying audio podcast, we have a Patreon-based newsletter, blog, various books, and courses, and all kinds of other ways parents can get information about how to keep themselves and their families safer and more secure.
The Story
Hi. I'm Jason Brick. I've been a martial artist for 39 years, a journalist for 14, and a dad for 54 (if you total the ages of my kids). I've also travelled the world, taught self-defense, and worked as a bodyguard and security consultant.
When I adopted my oldest son on his eighth birthday, I was already a 4th degree black belt. I had seen sketchy parts of the world, and done both dumb things and smart things in them. I'd won gold medals in four different kinds of martial arts competition. I’d had guns pointed at me twice, a knife in me once, and one time hit a man so hard he got a disease. I thought I was pretty badass.
Then I saw how having this small life I was responsible for threw a huge wrench in that process. Half the stuff I knew would put my child in harm's way if I did the techniques as taught...and the amount of stuff I didn't know that I needed to could just about fill the Grand Canyon if I typed it in a really small font. What I'm saying is, the arrival of my first son identified a blind spot so big it was honestly scary.
Luckily, I knew some smart people with more experience. Martial artists who had become parents before I did. Bodyguards, who are good at protecting a third party. Members of the Three Disciplines (fire, medic, and police). Teachers, counselors, and communicators of various stripes. I made it my life mission to learn how to keep my family safe in all the ways I could. I studied it the way I studied physical combat as a younger person, and learned a lot.
Safest Family on the Block is the next stage of that education. I use what I learned as a lens for this interview series, and the books and resources I create. It's been great so far, but I need some help to make it all that it could be. Which is why I'm asking for help from some folks here and there. With a little from everybody, I can make this a resource for every parent who needs it, no matter where their blind spots are.
The Project
Safest Family on the Block exists to get information into your hands. The most important ways we do this include:
The YouTube channel, delivering weekly in-depth interviews with experts from multiple disciplines
The Facebook page, where you can find news, information, and humor of use to parents of all stripes
The Instagram feed, offering safety tips and inspirational ideas to help us all make this parenting journey a little easier
Beyond that, we have two special programs I’d like to tell you about in some detail
On patreon
Our Patreon program delivers a weekly newsletter with on-point tips to keep your loved ones safe, early access to the show, plus exclusive extra resources. For as little as 3 cents a day, you can keep our efforts moving forward and get solutions to your biggest parenting problems. Click the link below if you’d like to become part of Team Safe Family.
Safest Dojo on the Block is our service for people who own or manage martial arts schools (though we work with a few other groups like scout troops and daycares). We offer three levels of participation for as little at $5 a month to help you make a bigger difference, and to stand out against the competition in your community. Click the link below if you think that sounds like fun.
The Guy to Blame for All This
Jason Brick is a father, husband, martial artist, geek, writer, world traveler, and cook — in approximately that order of importance. Since beginning his freelance writing and journalism career in 2009, he has produced over 100 books and 5,000 articles on subjects ranging from personal safety to advanced thermodynamics. He speaks internationally to writers about business, and to businesses about writing, and shares some of his stories about travel, safety, and personal growth as a keynote speaker all over the world. He also ghostwrites one book a year.
If you would like to book Jason for your next event, or talk about turning your thoughts into the perfect book for your needs, just email him here. He loves to geek out about this stuff, and will be happy to do that with you.
Jason’s favorite things:
Color: yellow
Ice cream: blackberry
Movie: Conan the Barbarian
City to Visit: Istanbul, Turkey
Book: Farenheit 451
Soup: Mulligatawny
Song: Bloodywood’s Nu Delhi
Flower: honeysuckle for smell, sunflowers for look
Food: deli sandwiches
Beer: Xarma
Comic: Bloom County
You can also find Jason on Facebook, where he shares bad dad jokes, picks fights about politics and philosophy, and holds forth on various geek topics like Dungeons and Dragons, science fiction, and heavy metal music.