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Self Esteem Course (online course Information)

Start Date: 21/05/2024
End Date: 23/07/2024
Price: FREE
Time: 9.30am - 11.30am
Venue: Online LIVE course
Location: Online via Zoom
To register your interest in this course, please complete a self-referral here

Low self-esteem and self-confidence can have a major impact on our lives. They can affect relationships, our social lives and the way we are at work.

This is a cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) course based on self-help books about overcoming low self-esteem and building confidence written by Melanie Fennell who is a leading CBT therapist. She writes: ‘Being self-confident is not about being an extrovert, or thinking you’re the most fantastic thing since sliced bread. It’s simply about feeling happier in your own skin. Inner self-confidence…allows you to treat yourself with kindness and compassion and instinctively act in your own best interests.’ (From ‘Boost your Confidence’).

This online course runs for nine weekly sessions. The first week is an orientation session lasting an hour. The rest of the sessions are 2 hours long each with a 10 minute break. There will be a maximum of 12 people attending, plus 2 facilitators. This is an interactive course and we encourage contributions to small group discussions or using the chat function. As the course goes on, we hope that you start to feel safe enough within the group to say a bit more, if you wish to.

Orientation: This is a chance to introduce you to the facilitators and group. We'll support you with the technical aspects of doing a group online.

Session 1: This looks at what it means to live with low self-confidence and self-esteem.

Session 2 and 3: These look at our worries and negative expectations about how things will turn out. We then try and change how we think about what might happen and what we do to cope.

Session 4 and 5: Those are about noticing self-critical thinking and finding ways to develop more helpful thinking, be fairer to ourselves and behave more confidently.

Session 6: We tend to focus upon what we do not like about ourselves, noticing our mistakes and what we do less well which affects our mood and confidence. This session helps to build a more balanced view, learning to notice the more positive aspects of ourselves.

Session 7: We all have standards or expectations about how we think we ‘should’ behave in day to day life. These expectations can sometimes be difficult to meet and leave us feeling worse about ourselves. This session will focus on ways of dealing with these expectations in a kinder and more supportive way.

Session 8: The final session provides time to review the course and plan how to take the learning forward.


“I found the Self-Esteem Group very helpful, more than I initially thought I would. We, as a group bonded very well and shared information that we felt comfortable sharing. I have learned a lot about myself from the work we have done and I intend to carry on using CBT techniques.”
 -Feedback from an in-person course member

Crisis Support

If you are in crisis or need immediate support:

Samaritans: 116 123 or text "shout" to 85258

For support and information:

Sussex Mental Healthline: 0800 0309 500 open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

For more advice on coping with suicidal thoughts:
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/suicide/
https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/suicidal-feelings/helping-yourself-now/