Background

Everyone holds opinions about themselves and the type of person that they are. It is these opinions that formulate our self-esteem. If you have low self-esteem, these beliefs will often be very negative. You may lack in confidence, are unable to accept compliments, expect little out of your life or neglect yourself. Low self-esteem is not a recognised mental health problem, but it can seriously affect your mental health.

However, high self-esteem will help you see yourself in a positive light and improve your overall mood. It will allow you to become confident and empower you to achieve your full potential.

How does it work?

The self-esteem CBT group lasts for 8 sessions, for 2 hours each. Each session covers an individual topic to systematically work towards raising your self-esteem. This course will provide you with an intricate understanding of self-esteem and how you can overcome the negative experiences attached to it.

Session overview

• Session 1: What is CBT? What is low self-esteem? How does low self-esteem develop and what maintains it?
• Session 2: Exploring low self-esteem further from a CBT perspective. Application of theory into practice. Introduces the role of negative automatic thoughts in maintaining low self-esteem. The use of thought records.
• Session 3: Reviews the role of negative thoughts and thought records. Considers cost / benefit of critical thinking. Hot thoughts.
• Session 4: Fact vs. opinion. Negative automatic thoughts and negative thinking styles revisited.
• Session 5: Understanding more about self-critical thinking. Combating self-critical thinking.
• Session 6: Re-cap of self-critical thinking. Ignoring the positive – self acceptance.
• Session 7: What is assertiveness? Different types of behaviour.
• Session 8: Course summary – review of techniques covered. Relapse prevention.