Become Assertive (A12-EN)

Assertiveness is the ability to stand up for yourself, to defend your opinion, to strive for something and fight for your rights without violence, with the respectful attitude to differences in opinions and freedom of expression. An assertive person is aware of her/his feelings, interests, and needs and can express them clearly while taking into consideration others and their needs. Such a person can compromise when conflict arises and they know their needs, interests, emotions, feelings and limits, and don‘t hide them from others.

social learning, emotional/social intelligence, feelings expression

• To understand assertiveness and how an assertive person operates
• To improve one’s own emotional expressions
• To encourage positive expressions of own thoughts and feelings
• To see the difference between assertive and aggressive expression

Public officers, administration staff, teachers, volunteers in NGOs, adults from different social and cultural backgrounds.  

Assertiveness is the ability to express own wishes and beliefs in a positive way, taking into consideration the personal boundaries of our own or/and from others. The activity can be used individually or in group training.

If it is used in a group setting, it is desirable that the participants speak about situations where they were less decisive and were not assertive. In this way, we are enhancing self-learning, interview and self-exploration based on experiential learning. Group work will also encourage participants to work together on solutions on how to be more decisive in situations in the future.

Questions such as: What could be done differently next time, which acts/deeds do I regret, of what should I be careful next time, are just cues for a concrete discussion.

paper, pencils, crayons, flipchart, poster

experiential learning, self-exploration, role-play, discussion board

The facilitator reads the guidelines and handout questions to the group participants. Before they fill out the activity sheet, it is helpful that the facilitator explains the term assertiveness, and why it is important in many areas of our daily lives.

Adapted from: Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman (revised January 28, 2003). 

Bercko Sonja. 2009. Psychosocial Rehabilitation Counselling Brochure.  Integra Institute

Integra Institute

Yes