Our Team

Our team brings a unique combination of knowledge, experience, and skills to every class and workshop. We combine our backgrounds in self-defense, mindfulness- based and trauma-informed psychology, and our love for fun and adventure, to provide you with a unique, holistic self-defense and personal safety training experience. 

Brigitte Schulze

Owner and Head Self-Defense Instructor of Three Rivers Defense

Brigitte is dedicated to violence prevention through self-defense training. She grew up near Munich in Germany. Building on her diverse background as a lawyer, human rights advocate, personal safety trainer, and 4th degree black belt in Taekwondo, she founded Three Rivers Defense in 2009. She trains people in emotional, mental, and physical self-protection at her studio in Bozeman, Montana, and at her clients’ locations anywhere. Brigitte served on the board of directors of the Montana Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence for six years. She has also worked as a crisis line advocate and on the Community Education Team for HAVEN, a domestic violence shelter in Bozeman. Brigitte’s mission is to train, inspire, and empower people to sharpen their awareness, to realize their natural strength, and to enjoy life. 

Maria Anderson

Brigitte's resource for making sure self-defense doesn't become too serious 

Maria is an award-winning writer, a professional ski instructor, and a climber. Her stories have appeared in the Iowa Review, the Missouri Review, and in the 2018 Best American Short Stories. Her adventures inspire Brigitte's training philosophy of promoting safety and wellbeing while making sure that our trainees don't miss out on any fun. Maria occasionally assist Brigitte with large group trainings.

Andrea Anderson

Brigitte's Trauma and Mindfulness Resource 

Andrea is a licensed therapist in Colorado. She holds a bachelor's degree in psychology from Brown University and a master's degree in mindfulness-based counseling psychology from Naropa University in Boulder. Andrea has worked in the psychiatric departments of the Deaconess Hospital in Billings, Montana, and of the Boulder Hospital. She currently provides equine assisted therapy at Twin Oaks in Boulder, Colorado. 

Ivan

For years, Ivan has taken all of our trainees' palm-heel strikes, front-kicks, eye-gouges, elbows, hammer-fists, side kicks, knife-hands, and knee-strikes without ever batting an eye or complaining. He lives in our gym at 612 W Griffin Drive in Bozeman. And sorry, you can't contact him. He doesn't own a computer or any other electronic gadgets.