About Us
Mission Statement: To provide science-based, evidence-backed, realistic self-defence and violence prevention content in a supportive, trauma informed, inclusive environment.
LiveSafe Education is a leading provider of personal safety education and training.
We equip people with the skills to recognise, avoid, and respond to risk in challenging or unsafe situations. Our approach focuses on helping individuals stay calm, think clearly, and act with confidence when it matters most.
Our sessions are practical, engaging, and delivered in a supportive environment. Alongside building essential safety skills, they also foster connection, awareness, and a strong sense of confidence within teams and communities.
You’ll be guided by specialists in personal safety with backgrounds spanning counter-terrorism, behavioural analysis, and the neuroscience behind threat, stress, and human behaviour. Their work is grounded in lived experience, diversity awareness, and decades of frontline practice. Expect honest conversations, practical tools, and hands-on strategies that can be applied immediately in real-world situations.
Live Safe Education is a purpose-driven social enterprise working across schools, corporates, and non-profit organisations to support employees, students, and community members of all ages to keep themselves safe. Our approach prioritises prevention and early identification, teaching people how to avoid risk, safely de-escalate situations, and, only as a last resort, respond physically to create an opportunity to get to safety.
We focus on simple, practical techniques that are accessible and realistic for anyone to learn and implement under stress. We have extensive experience working with diverse cohorts, including neurodivergent individuals, religious communities, and victim-survivors, and we pride ourselves on ensuring that every participant walks away feeling more confident, capable, and secure.
Our Team
Dave Friedman
Dave is the Chief Instructor of Live Safe. He is also the Chief Instructor and Director of Krav Maga Australia, Live Safe’s self-defence school teaching more than 300 students in Victoria.
Dave has over 25 years of experience teaching personal safety and self-defence skills to adults and children alike. Growing up in a high crime society and working in counter-terrorism gave Dave a unique and valuable skill set to pass on through his teachings today. Dave is a personal safety expert and Trauma Informed Coach who is passionate about students maximising their personal security, whilst improving their skills, fitness and self esteem.
Shellé Friedman
2025 Kingston Woman Of The Year Finalist. Shellé is a specialist in personal safety, with a background spanning behavioural analysis, trauma-informed practice, neurodiversity, and the neuroscience of threat, stress, and human behaviour.
Her work is grounded in lived experience, diversity awareness, and decades of frontline practice across community, education, and organisational settings in both Australia and South Africa. She is known for translating complex science and theory into practical, human-centred tools that people can realistically apply in everyday situations.
Shellé works with individuals, families, schools, community organisations, and workplaces seeking realistic, inclusive approaches to personal safety and human behaviour — across prevention, early identification, awareness, and response. Her approach prioritises empowerment, self-trust, and informed decision-making, without fear-based messaging or unrealistic expectations.
Alongside her professional experience, Shellé brings a deep understanding of trauma and difference, allowing her to create learning environments that are supportive, respectful, and accessible. She also provides training and guidance to instructors and facilitators, ensuring programs are delivered with consistency, integrity, and a strong trauma-informed foundation.
At the heart of her work is a belief that everyone deserves access to practical skills that help them feel safer, more confident, and more capable — not just to survive, but to thrive.
Daniel Werzberger
Daniel was a member of the Australian Karate Squad for many years and a former Australian Open and Victorian Karate Champion (2021).
Daniel is passionate about education and prevention when it comes to alcohol-related violence, assault and personal safety. He created Live Safe as a long-tailed strategy to reduce the number of these incidents occurring in Australia.
Razi Pilli
As a qualified Krav Maga instructor, Trauma Informed Coach and years of experience working in government as a policy writer, Razi brings a varied mix of skills to the LiveSafe team.
Razi is especially passionate about working and providing skills to those in the not-for-profit sector, especially when those doing this important work do so despite the inherent risks that go with it.
With a Master’s in Public Policy and government and advocacy experience, this unique blend of on-the-mat experience and off-the-mat work makes Razi perfect at managing grant and tender applications, supporting us with research and navigating bureaucracies.
The LiveSafe Model of Personal Safety
Avoidance
Making a SAFE decision to AVOID a potentially dangerous environment.
Prevention
Making an EARLY decision to PREVENT becoming a victim of crime or avoidable accident.
Effective Escape
Physical self defence techniques to creates the time or distance needed to make an effective escape.
