Assertiveness training

Submissiveness comes at a high price: being overloaded with other people’s business, suppressed anger, the feeling of being used – and outbursts you are ashamed of afterwards. Aggression has a different price: conflict and loneliness. Assertiveness is the third way: clearly expressing your needs, boundaries and opinions with respect for the other person. Contrary to appearances, you don’t have to be born with it – it is a set of specific, learnable skills.

In the training we work in a workshop format, on situations from the participants’ lives: a boss’s request that was due “yesterday”, a mother-in-law with unwanted advice, a friend who is forever borrowing money, a partner who leaves the chores to you. We practise proven techniques: saying no without endless explaining, the broken record, responding to criticism and manipulation, accepting compliments, expressing anger without hurting.

A group is irreplaceable for this kind of training: it gives you a safe space to try things out, real conversation partners for role-plays and the support of people with the same difficulties. The training is led by a psychologist. We also work on the source of submissiveness – the beliefs (“it’s not the done thing”, “what will people think”) that keep old habits alive.