If you are at imminent risk for self-harm please go to the Madison Memorial Emergency Room. For individuals who are at risk for harming themselves or are having a similar significant crisis, please text or call 988 to access the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
Overview
The basic idea behind assertiveness is expressing your needs, wants, beliefs, and values in an open way that doesn’t violate the rights of other people. Imagine assertiveness as the steady balancing point on a spectrum of communication styles. On one far end of that spectrum is aggressiveness and on the opposite end is passiveness.1 Some people believe that assertiveness is the same as aggressiveness, but there are some very basic differences. Assertive communication demonstrates self-respect and self-confidence, in addition to awareness of and respect for others. It begins when you look at the world from the position that you are worthwhile and have rights AND that others are also worthwhile and have rights.2
2 https://caps.byu.edu/assertiveness accessed 6/17/20
1 https://www.mindfulnessmuse.com/dialectical-behavior-therapy/basic-assertiveness-skills-for-interpersonal-effectiveness
Resources
-Leave Your Blues Behind (Module 6)
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