Assertiveness

Assertiveness is the ability to clearly communicate how we feel and what we need in a calm open style. It is needed in all areas of life from work situations, relationships with friends and family, to buying something in the supermarket. Assertiveness is the middle ground of communication between a passive style of relating and an aggressive style of relating.

If we struggle to assert overselves we can easily be taken advantage of and end up having too much responsibility for work tasks or family commitments as people become more likely to pile things on us. We can also become more likely to experience low self esteem as a vicious cycle of not feeling confident enough to communicate our needs, thus our needs are unlikely to be met causing us to feeling worthless, less confident and therefore less likely to assert ourselves.

See our download for tips to improve assertiveness.

The goals of assertiveness training include increasing awareness of personal rights, a differentiation between non-assertiveness and assertiveness, understanding passive-aggression and aggression and the opportunity to learn more about the way we communicate verbally and non-verbally