HLIST — Hyper-Localized Integrated Security Training

A specialist one-day programme designed to complement HEAT and HEFAT training.

Standard hostile environment training prepares you to survive a crisis. HLIST prepares you to avoid one.

Developed and taught by experienced conflict journalists Owen G. Holdaway and Ali Mustafa, HLIST draws directly on frontline reporting experience, including coverage of the Battle of Mosul, the war in Ukraine, and the Syrian Civil War. The course addresses the social, behavioural, and cultural risk layer that traditional security training often doesn’t cover.

Every scenario in the programme is drawn from real operational situations, not theory.

What HLIST covers

Six modules delivered in one day, designed to bolt directly onto existing HEAT or HEFAT courses or run as a standalone online workshop:

  • Fixer evaluation — a structured six-point framework for assessing competency, reliability, and operational risk
  • Expat and local integration — reading social dynamics and identifying trust and risk indicators in the field
  • Reciprocal social capital — building useful relationships without compromising operational security
  • Local access risk mapping — physical risk assessment in urban and rural conflict environments
  • Danger threshold analysis — go/no-go decisions under pressure, colleague breakdown, and casualty situations
  • Checkpoint and social navigation — behavioural strategies for high-risk encounters and charged interactions

Who it’s for

Journalists and media correspondents, NGO and humanitarian field staff, security and risk personnel, and corporate teams operating in complex or high-risk environments.

COURSE & AVAILABILITY

HLIST is delivered as a one-day online Zoom course.

The course runs twice per year, typically:

  • Last Sunday of September
  • First Sunday of March

Note: Due to the nature of this course and difficulties of the roleplays class sizes are very small, hence places are EXTREMELY LIMITED and allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

For training providers

HLIST is available to security training providers on a licensed basis as a bolt-on to existing HEAT programmes. It offers genuine market differentiation in a saturated sector.

Licensing enquiries and pilot requests are welcome.

Get in touch

To discuss a pilot, licensing arrangement, or individual booking, please contact Owen Holdaway or Ali Mustafa directly, specifying your preferred course date.

We can also arrange bespoke training for larger groups on request.