Are you tired of being intimidated and treated badly by others? Learn specific techniques to become more assertive in all parts of your life. Discover how people manipulate you and how you submit to being a victim. Understand the difference between passive, aggressive, and assertive behaviors, and see how inner dialogues keep people acting in passive ways. Explore ways to change your inner dialogue, such as using affirmations and visualization, creating new labels for yourself and others, and keeping a journal.

Do you think you speak non-assertively? If so, master the skills that will empower you to talk in an assertive manner, including specific verbal techniques and phrases for a variety of situations. Anger and criticism from others are difficult to deal with, so you'll get many tips on how to handle these. And because your body can reflect an inner uncertainty, you'll learn how to use facial expressions, eye contact, gestures, and your voice to reinforce the assertive statements you're making. 

You teach people how to treat you through your behaviors as well as your words, and this course will help you understand which behaviors to use with others so they perceive you as being assertive. When you begin to exhibit your new confidence in relationships, people will counter in various ways. You'll learn how to stand firm in the face of this resistance.

Get the assertiveness training you need in order to be more confident and powerful with family members, friends, bosses, co-workers, professionals, service people, and even total strangers.  It's your turn to speak up!

A new section of each course starts monthly. If enrolling in a series of two or more courses, please be sure to space the start date for each course at least two months apart.

All courses run for six weeks, with a two-week grace period at the end. Two lessons are released each week for the six-week duration of the course. You do not have to be present when lessons are released. You will have access to all lessons until the course ends. However, the interactive discussion area that accompanies each lesson will automatically close two weeks after the lesson is released. As such, we strongly recommend that you complete each lesson within two weeks of its release.

The final exam will be released on the same day as the last lesson. Once the final exam has been released, you will have two weeks to complete all of your course work, including the final exam.

Internet access, e-mail, and the Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox Web browser.

This course includes a knowledgeable and caring instructor who will guide you through your lessons, facilitate discussions, and answer your questions. The instructor for this course will be Vivian Harte.

Vivian Harte has been teaching people how to be more assertive for more than 10 years. She teaches a "Women in Society" class for a large college, and also helps students at a major university learn how to express themselves assertively in the classroom and in the workplace.

“ Great course. I really learned a lot about myself, family and others. I learned many life lessons about becoming assertive with family, friends,and on the job. I really appreciate the information and I am applying it with great success to my life. I strongly recommend this class to anyone but especially to women of all ages. It's never too late to learn new tricks. ”

“ I found it very interesting of what type of person I was and definitely found this course very helpful and will help me to use this information to be an assertive person. ”

“ I have learned a lot from taking this course. I find myself becoming more assertive in my daily life. Thanks to this course, I feel that I am on the way to becoming a more confident person! ”

“ I have used assertive behavior on two occasions within the past couple of weeks. Before this class began, I would not have spoken up for fear I was letting someone down, or maybe I was the one that was wrong about the situation. I have really enjoyed the class and will use the assertive techniques often.....Thanks! ”

“ I've learned so much in the few weeks during this course that my performance review on the job was above average! My manager's boss noticed, as well as my manager, that I handle my responsibilities in a direct way with clear communication. Thanks, Vivian, for your lessons that are detailed. They make me realize some things that I've never thought about. I will refer to the lessons often. ”

“ Thanks! This was a great course for me. I have made improvements already, especially with family members. ”

“ Thank you for this course! I feel that it's given me a new lease on life! I can now say what I mean and mean what I say without feeling guilty or wrong. By doing this, I can relieve a lot of the frustrations I've had from holding things in and making them my problem when they should have been someone else's problem all along. Thanks for teaching me to stand up for myself instead of always being so passive and taking the heat for things that I did not do. You've helped me learn how let go of a lot of my resentment and bitterness about things that I felt I had no control over. I DO have control over how I'm treated and I have a right to speak my opinions without feeling threatened or wrong. Thank you! ”

“ This course gave me renewed confidence and provided great resources and knowledge. The assignments and information gained will be useful now and in the future. I am very glad I took this course from this instructor, who was very insightful and helpful. ”

“ This course was very helpful to me in my passive life with my work, husband, and children. I hope I will be more assertive with them in the future, now that I know how. ”

“ What an intense course! Everytime I reread the different lessons I end up highlighting something I missed before. I have made the determination to use what I have learned from Get Assertive in my everyday life. I wish I had had the opportunity to have taken this course forty years ago when I was in my twenties. It would have made positive changes in my relationships with family and friends. Vivian, thank you for showing me how to get more enjoyment out of life. ”