What is Assertiveness?

"Assertiveness means standing up for your personal rights - expressing thoughts, feelings and beliefs in direct, honest and appropriate ways."

It is important to note also that:

"By being assertive we should always respect the thoughts, feelings and beliefs of other people."

"Assertiveness concerns being able to express feelings, wishes, wants and desires appropriately and is an important personal and interpersonal skill. In all your interactions with other people, whether at home or at work, with employers, customers or colleagues, assertiveness can help you to express yourself in a clear, open and reasonable way, without undermining the rights of yourself or others.

Assertiveness enables an individual to act in their own best interests, to stand up for themselves without undue anxiety, to express honest feelings comfortably and to express personal rights without denying the rights of others."

Source and further information:

Skills You Need: Assertiveness, An Introduction

Assertiveness is not only important in business relationships, it is equally if not more important in personal relationships. The context in which we are likely to struggle most is when the relationship matters the most and we have a significant emotional investment in the relationship, such as that with our intimate partner. It is in this context that our self esteem is most likely to be challenged.

Centre for Clinical Interventions offers an infopax on assertiveness. If you wish to explore assertiveness in more depth, you may find this interesting.

How can counselling help you?

If you are finding you are either too compliant or too aggressive in your communication style, Christine Bennett offers help through counselling and psychotherapy . Christine finds that Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Ericksonian Hypnosis and lifestyle education can make a significant difference to improve mood.

If you would like to make an enquiry or appointment, please call or use the form provided below. We look forward to hearing from you.