When Brisbane woman Stephanie Simmons was held hostage at "gunpoint" in 2016, she felt helpless and terrified.
But five years on, Ms Simmons uses that harrowing memory as motivation in her role as a martial arts instructor.
Back in 2016, she and her colleagues were held hostage in Brisbane for 20 minutes until police arrived. Fortunately the weapon turned out to be fake.
"Thankfully, no one was harmed in the situation, but it got me thinking ... 'what if'? That prompted me to join [martial arts]," Ms Simmons said.
She said after the siege, she experienced post-traumatic stress disorder.
Even washing her work uniform triggered frightening thoughts of the siege.
"You don't expect it to happen to you but … the other people that were involved are still recovering. It can definitely have long-lasting effects," Ms Simmons said.
'I'm not that scared little meerkat anymore'
Ms Simmons now draws on her ordeal in teaching others how to react in hostile situations.
Over the weekend, she helped run a free self defence class for women at the Mattfiddes-Martial Arts Club on the Sunshine Coast.
Club owner Ryan Canavan said he organised the first event in 2019 after reports of women being verbally and physically attacked in the region.
For Ms Simmons, helping other people learn martial arts has assisted her in working through her own PTSD.
"Definitely martial arts has helped me be able to cope with a few things emotionally and physically," she said.
"I'm definitely a lot stronger and I'm definitely more aware of my situations and what's going on around and I'm definitely a little bit more confident out in public."
Ms Simmons said she took up the sport to be a role model for her daughter, who was nine when the siege took place.
"She's aware things can happen, so seeing that I can move past it and help others that have potentially been in that situation or help them if they ever get in that situation is a good feeling," she said.
Avoiding potential dangers
Mr Canavan said the idea of the free self defence class was to give women practical strategies they could use to protect themselves.
"The idea is to teach a basic system to give these ladies an understanding or a step-by-step system that they can follow," he said.
The seminar focused on the 'ABCs' of martial arts, such as how to avoid potential dangers, along with breathing and communication.
"It could be something as simple as if you're going to go running at night-time, don't run with headphones in," he said.
Mr Canavan said enrolment data showed the most common reasons people joined martial arts was for self confidence and self discipline.
"It has less to do with the physical defence side of it," he said.
'The last thing you want to do is fight'
For Ms Simmons, martial arts is about more than using physical actions to respond to a dangerous situation.
"We teach our kids in martial arts classes the last thing you want to do is fight," she said.
"You want to be able to — if you can — stay calm and get out of a situation and be able to talk your way out of it.
"So if we can prepare ourselves mentally to get out of situations before they even happen, then that's a job well done for us."
