Assertiveness for Men (1-2 Days)

Men are often thought to be more Assertive than women. When explored further many men may be experienced as being Aggressive and dominating rather than Assertive. The assumption may also be made that all men are Assertive or Aggressive, yet a significant proportion of men have difficulty asserting themselves.
This course aims to challenge these myths and help participants develop their Assertive skills.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of the course participants should have understood:

• Definitions:
        -Aggression
        -Passive Aggression
        -Passivity
        -Assertiveness
• The perception of men as being Aggressive
• The impact that non-assertive men can have on others; particularly women
• How men can come across if they are not Assertive
• Assertive body language
• Assertive language
• Assertive philosophy: Life positions
• How to develop more Assertive and respectful relationships with colleagues and service users
• Power relationships
• What could be experienced as bullying-The need to tone down
• How to be Assertive: The skills:
        -The importance of explicit contracts in relationships
        -How to use a self-contracting model
        -How to say No’ appropriately
        -How to make reasonable requests assertively
        -How to give and receive compliments
        -How to disagree
        -How to assert your rights
        -How to assert your boundaries
        -How to make a complaint
        -How to deal with not ‘being heard’
• The principles of giving and receiving Feedback
• A review of Assertiveness Skills
• The effective use of verbal and non-verbal communication
• Resisting establishing Parent-Child transactions
• Challenging appropriately
• Negotiating and Compromise
• What to do with anger

Training methods:

• Tutor presentations
• Discussion in small and larger groups
• Role Play
• Trust exercises
• Visualisation
• Exercises
• OHP/PowerPoint presentations
• Handouts

Numbers attending:

Please note that because of the challenging nature of this course and so as to enable participants to engage in a safe way, numbers are limited to 12.

CP160/5.9