THE CLARITY SEMINAR

Learn knowledge, practical strategies and skills that you can apply in your everyday life.

This is a unique opportunity to have access to an experienced clinical psychologist. Nicole will provide you with knowledge and strategies based on neuroscience and many years of clinical experience. The knowledge and practical tools I provide to my clients can now benefit a wider audience, the general public, including you! The Clarity Seminar is a ‘FRESH’ take on helping you to improve your mental health fitness, resilience and self-awareness.

The Clarity Seminar provides deeper insight into how you form your perceptions and how your interactions are driven by these perceptions. When you realise that your thinking and beliefs are often unconscious, or ‘hidden’, it becomes clear how critical improved self-knowledge is. Knowing yourself better forms an invaluable perspective to optimise how we manage our emotions, responses, communication and relationships. Nicole's approach amplifies the effect of any learning you experience, both professionally and personally.

The biggest takeaway is, if you know more about how your thoughts and perceptions are formed and how they drive your behaviour, you realise you’ve got more capacity for control than you realise. Understanding why some of our behaviours come about helps us in developing better resilience, self-awareness and mental health fitness.

Take the First Step Today

Are you ready to improve your mental health fitness, resilience and self-awareness?

Important Information

The Clarity Seminar consists of four interactive evening seminars, held across four weeks. This program is available to the general public (no referral required) and costs $260 for the four sessions, for a total of 8 hours of seminars.

Corporate and business groups option

There is an option for 2 x 4 hour sessions during business hours (Deakin office or onsite) through arrangement with Nicole Daly.

Number of participants

Seminars will be run when there is a requisite number of registrations of interest. To ensure high quality interaction, only 12 participants will be admitted to each seminar. (Bigger groups can be organised with Nicole via requests through the website or email).

ndclinpsych@gmx.com

Terms and conditions

Insights From Participants

Here's What People Had to Say ...

" The seminar was a great opportunity to learn and reflect in a different way about the stress response and how we construct our own emotions. Nicole is a good communicator and she also provided practical strategies to assist in these processes. I’d recommend this seminar to everyone! "

" Enjoyable program reflecting on mind and body and thinking more about my thinking habits and values."

" I thoroughly enjoyed The Clarity Seminar. Very informative and provided me with strategies and skills to help me manage and control my emotions. "

" Excellent presentation. Great explanations. The insights and tools are useful and practical for everyday life."

" Nicole you have a great and natural manner to speak with others and not to others. Relaxed, informative, knowledgeable with humour. Thank you!"

" Fantastic examples that supports the neuroscience e.g. the glass of water. Evidence based helpful actions that can improve your perceptions, relationships and life!"

"The Clarity Seminar provided a wealth of strategies and tools for better understanding our brain, our values and reactions which I’m going to use personally and with my students in the classroom."

" Thank you for putting this course together. It allowed me to better understand the neuroscience behind the way we experience life. You have given lots of outstanding tools that can be easily used and practiced every day that help us feel better."

" Nicole has offered me more tools for my life toolbox. Learning ways to cope with my stress (or uncomfortable feelings) and learning to be a better person both in personal and business life. Thank you!"

" Nicole made everyone in the room feel welcome, involved and included."

" Everyone needs this knowledge. Lots of strategies! Great program! Thank you, Nicole."

Seminar Schedule

Evening One - Neuroscience of Emotions & Highlighting our Beliefs

Emotions

Information from neurons, neurotransmitters and electrochemical interactions change instantly, moment to moment, to create a construct of who we are so we can make sense of what is happening in our world. Emotions are constructed by us each time we experience them, moment to moment. Our brain uses associations, concepts and simulations to come up with a ‘best guess’, a prediction about what is happening and how we need to respond in the present moment. Our emotional style sets the tone of all our interactions.

Beliefs and Biases

Our beliefs are physical neuronal pathways in the brain: our default settings. These are the interpretations, stories we repeatedly tell ourselves about ourselves, others and the world. They become deeply ingrained, programs that run automatically beyond conscious awareness. Habits of thinking and reacting where we don't think, we just 'do'. We will look at highlighting some of our beliefs and learn how to broaden or challenge our thinking. We do not have control over many situations in life, but we do have more control than we may think over how we interpret and respond in those situations.

Strategies: Highlighting our beliefs / Creating a positive state / It's just another TURTLE!

Evening Two - Stress, Anxiety, Low Mood & Intentional Thinking

The best thing we can do for stress, anxiety and low mood is to look at our thinking! Our thinking habits can exacerbate emotional states and is therefore, much more of an internal process than people think. By learning about the process, you’ll be able to better understand your thought patterns, and why you think and react in particular ways. Not all signs of stress are harmful. In fact, some stress is necessary for learning and developing resilience. The ‘challenge and stress responses’ are normal adaptive physiological processes that are meant to ramp up and then settle. It is not a faulty system. Anxiety and excitement both use similar chemicals and biological pathways in the body and brain. It is our interpretation of these sensations that influences how we feel.

Intentional Thinking - We tend to favourably rationalise our current emotion (emotional reasoning) rather than trying to also keep some objectivity in our thinking. Intentional thinking strategies can assist us in keeping perspective and therefore, helpful in managing our emotions and responses. Nicole will teach you a number of practical thinking strategies.

Strategies: Questioning your thoughts (QYT) / What would I have to believe? / Cognitive Distortions / My brain does what I tell it to do (examples) / 30 – 90 seconds

Evening Three - Resilience & Core Beliefs

Resilience is the capacity to prepare for, recover from and adapt in the face of challenges and adversity. Characteristics of resilience include cognitive skills, problem-solving ability, emotional regulation and adaptability to the situations we find ourselves in. Our nervous system is hardwired for comfort however, growth is often uncomfortable.

Resilience involves behaviours, thoughts, and actions that anyone can learn and develop. Managing our emotions is a major factor in building resilience because emotions are often the primary drivers of many physiological processes. A critical core factor in developing resilience is to learn how to deal with and accept uncertainty or ambiguity.

Our experiences shape our beliefs about ourselves, others and the world. We assume everyone else sees the world as we do…. until they don’t! We are convinced we are responding based on rational, confirmable information. but are we? A strong or intense reaction to a situation or to someone, is often about us responding from an unhelpful Core Belief that has been activated. Learn what core beliefs are driving you!

Strategies: Resilience analysis / Core Belief Questions / The River

Evening Four - Neuroscience of Breathwork, Vision, Movement & Values

Neuroscience shows our emotions are linked to our breath and so is the quality of our energy. The respiratory system, with its millions of receptors, constantly processes information and affects our emotions, thoughts, and behaviours. Intentional breathing can assist in regulating the nervous system, improving mood and reducing stress. The diaphragm is a skeletal muscle designed for voluntary action and therefore, under our control. The physiological sigh and diaphragmatic breathing facilitates coherence in breath, heart, and mind, promoting relaxation and reducing cortisol levels. Nicole will also show you how our vision and movement are important in assisting us to regulate emotions.

Values - We are what we value. That simple truth underlies all our behaviours and interactions with others. Our values define our actions, words and decisions and are constantly reflected in the way we behave, communicate, and interact with others. It's important to align our actions with our values. Consequently, the analysis of values becomes a powerful, positive support in leveraging and expanding personal and organisational knowledge. Discovering what really drives you will improve and enhance your life and the lives of those around you.

Strategies: Physiological sigh & Intentional breathing / Vision & Movement / What are my values and how I act on them / 3 Invitation questions / Yoga Nidra