HOUSTON -- Houston-area women are getting the emotional and physical tools to help them avoid becoming victims, KPRC Local 2 reported Wednesday.

Local 2 anchor Wendy Corona recently took a R.A.D. program class, which stands for Rape Aggression Defense Systems. Students consider it a survival school because it teaches how to control fear and fight back.

The four-day class shows women how to protect themselves. It also prepares the mind for what the body might have to do to survive.

It begins with your voice.

"I will hit hard," I will run fast," "No," and "I will survive," are shouted out during the course.

By the last day, class participants undergo simulations with attackers.

R.A.D. instructors Jim and Sandra Baylor said the class will save lives.

"Think about the bad guy that makes a living off this. He won't have a problem getting in," Jim Baylor said.

"They will learn how to take the opportunity away before it even happens and that is what saves them," Sandra Baylor said.

If an attacker confronts a person, R.A.D. has a few tricks.

"It is a stun and run. Have an immediate action plan, employ that plan of action, and get away and survive," Jim Baylor said.

Corona said the information and simulations can be overwhelming at times.

"You don't want to be on the receiving end of that," she said.

The R.A.D. philosophy is to take advantage of the element of surprise and to commit a woman to strike with intensity on an attacker's vulnerable areas.

The instructors asked KPRC Local 2 to not show some of the self-defense skills because they do not want to provide the information to assailants.

In the class Wendy attended, there were six sets of mother and daughter teams, as well as five graduating seniors who will soon be in college.

They all had their own reasons for participating.

"I will just be able to protect myself and be a survivor instead of a victim," a student said.

"My ex-husband kind of, like, walked into my house. I don't think anybody should make me feel uncomfortable," a woman identified only as Monique said.

The simulated attacks are videotaped so students can watch it with their loved ones.

R.A.D. has taught self-defense to more than 200,000 women across the country since it was founded in 1989 by a Virginia police officer.

For more information on R.A.D., visit www.radtexas.com, e-mail Baylor@radtexas.com or call (713) 408-9960.