confidence-building
courses 2008

Speak up! speak up!
Sell yourself! sell yourself!
Know yourself! know yourself!
more...

• Can you fake confident body language, even if you are nervous?
• Do you sell yourself with impact, or with an apology?
• Can you give and take a compliment?
• Can you treat the giving and receiving of criticism creatively, or is it a destructive process in your life?
• Can you speak up in a group?
• Can you do things even though they feel risky?
• How do you cope with embarrassment or anger?
• Do you make the most out of your life?
• Can you present yourself with impact?

These three separate courses are designed to help you broaden your self-confidence and ability to make an impact, know yourself better and take charge of your own life in a creative and empowered way. The three courses complement each other: you will get most benefit from doing all three, but you can do just one or two of them if you wish.

Speak up!
(two Sundays)

> Assertiveness skills
> Body language
> Self expression
> Facing fears
> Making contact

These two days will help you improve your ability to:

.....handle criticism (giving and receiving) creatively,
.....give and receive compliments in spite of fears of embarrassment,
.....make requests of people,
.....say 'no',
.....negotiate,
.....handle a put-down,
.....handle stressful or ‘awkward’ moments,
.....talk to people in social situations, and
.....combat shyness.

Details:
Times: 11.00am – 5.00pm
Dates: Please contact me
Venue: Oakwood House, Office 6, 637 Roundhay Rd, Oakwood, Leeds LS8 4BA
Cost: £110.00 per person
Group size: Maximum 8

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Sell yourself!
(two Sundays)

> Presentations and selling yourself
.....(including making announcements, presenting to a group, and being .....interviewed for a job)
> Body language, further skills
> Making an impact
> Using your voice
> Expanding the comfort zone
> Structuring your message

Some research has shown that the impact we make depends on the following elements in the following proportions:

......7% Content (what you say)
..... 55% Body language (your physical signals)
..... 38% Vocal style (how you say it)

Theses two days cover how to use and be aware of body language, vocal delivery and verbal style, as you present yourself in a number of different contexts. The course will help you make better impact in selling yourself and getting your message across.

> See yourself (on DVD) as others see you
Will you like what you see?! You are offered the invaluable opportunity to watch yourself on DVD-video and then learn from what you see, so that you present yourself effectively. It will offer further opportunities to expand your 'comfort zone'.

Details:
Times: 11.00am – 5.00pm
Dates: Please contact me
Venue: Oakwood House, Office 6, 637 Roundhay Rd, Oakwood, Leeds LS8 4BA
Cost: £110.00 per person
Group size: Maximum 8

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Know yourself! - handle stress better by developing deeper self-awareness
(two weekends, Spring 2007)

> Knowing and uncovering your feelings
> Encountering your history
> Self-acceptance
> New perspectives on yourself

This two-weekend course is about helping you find out more about yourself and your feelings. It allows you to explore who you are and what you do with your life, and assess whether you need to change anything.

Why does self-knowledge increase confidence? I think that to have control over my life, and therefore myself, I have to know what I am dealing with inside of myself, ie what makes me tick. This especially means finding out about the things I do that get me into scrapes, or that hold me back, or risk making me disliked. So in order to unlock my own power and potential, I have to find out why I do what I do.

The two weekends make extensive use of the co-counselling peer-based method for personal growth, which has developed over the last 30 years. It makes use of some of the techniques in Gestalt therapy, psychodrama and process-oriented psychology

Successful completion of this course gives you the choice of accessing the CCI (Co-Counselling International) network and its workshops: it's an option open to you, if you want. CCI residential workshops have for over 20 years provided its participants with a unique and liberating space to grow, play, and to challenge themselves.

> Do you hold back?

If you believe that you are shy, or simply that you find it difficult in groups or with strangers, then the network of CCI residential workshops provides an excellent and unique environment to work on your shyness or holding back over a longer period of time. The beauty of it is that you can choose to do this at your own pace without feeling that you are pushed into anything you are not ready for. I have used this network of events over the last 15 years to challenge myself, and have become more able to 'put myself out there' in a confident way. It's been an indespensible element in my personal development, complementing the other courses, training and individual and group therapy I have done. (CCI residential workshops)

Details:
Dates: Two weekends, Spring 2007. Please contact me for exact dates.
Venue: Oakwood House, 637 Roundhay Road, Oakwood, Leeds LS8 4BA
Cost: £190.00 per person
Group size: Maximum 12

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More about this 3-course programme...

This course is for anyone who wants to increase their sense of self-confidence, whether in the workplace, socially or at home: it is for people who want to learn skills of assertive, direct engagement with others, make more of an impact on the world, and be held back less by their fears.

Staying in your 'comfort zone' is easy - you simply operate within the confidence level that you have already developed. As the saying goes: 'if you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got'. But, as soon as you want to get involved more actively and creatively with the world and the people in it, you have to face the challenges of relating to others in a more direct way. This means taking risks - at whatever level. The less you can do this, the more difficult it is to handle these situations.

The course is largely experiential, which means that the emphasis is on doing things rather that sitting listening to lectures . You will have the opportunity to do specific exercises that will involve practising skills and addressing the blocks that stop you facing challenges. There is no written work required, though I may ask you to jot down some ideas, and I supply handouts so that there is no need to write anything down during the session. There will be pairwork, work in three's, group discussion, and exercises such as role-play and group sculpt. You will have the opportunity to see yourself on video and learn from what you see. I draw from my own experience of teaching co-counselling and assertiveness skills, as a therapist and workshop leader, as a participant in psychodrama and other groupwork, and as an export sales representative.

The group provides the opportunity to face the challenge of taking a risk (eg of talking to a group) in spite of one's fear (eg fear of looking silly). It is when in contact with others that you can best develop yourself and work on how you operate: this course offers a supportive group where you can work on your interpersonal skills and further your self-knowledge.

Some of the skills involved are verbal, but we shall also pay close attention to body language (posture and gait), vocal delivery and eye-contact. We will also think about how our background and history informs how we operate now.

I hope you're not put off when I say it is necessary to take risks - I think that a useful course for personal development has to allow people to do things at their own pace. I think that such a group or course has to feel safe, so if you choose to do the course you will not be pushed into doing anything you don't want to do. On the other hand, if you sit back and do nothing but watch or go through the motions, you won't get much benefit. Ideally the course will feel both exciting and managable to you. It should also be fun!

Details, prices, booking
Booking form

...........................Book soon to avoid disappointment: places are limited.

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