About the Course
Assertiveness for Psychological Health & Human Flourishing
An 8-week online psychology-led professonal development course developing the interpersonal skills required to protect psychological health, strengthen relationships and support human flourishing.
Participants learn how to set and maintain healthy boundaries, communicate with confidence and clarity, navigate difficult conversations, manage interpersonal conflict, negotiate competing needs and develop win-win approaches that preserve both self-respect and relationships.
The course integrates psychological science, behavioural practice and guided reflection to help participants move beyond passive, aggressive or avoidant communication patterns toward mature, flexible and psychologically healthy assertiveness.
Core areas include:
• Boundary setting and boundary maintenance
• Confident and respectful communication
• Difficult conversations
• Conflict resolution
• Negotiation and collaborative problem-solving
• Identifying passive, aggressive and avoidant patterns
• Expressing needs, preferences and disagreement clearly
• Managing guilt, fear and discomfort when asserting oneself
• Psychological safety and relational health
• Win-win interpersonal strategies
• Self-respect, mutual respect and healthy interdependence
• Applying assertiveness to professional life, leadership and everyday relationships
The broader aim is not simply to teach people how to “speak up.” It is to develop the interpersonal intelligence required to create healthier relationships, healthier workplaces and conditions in which both individuals and communities can flourish.
Professional development benefits can include a clear, credible set of takeaways:
Certificate of Completion for the 8-week course
12 hours of structured psychology-led professional development
Practical communication, boundary-setting and conflict-resolution tools
Guided reflective activities that can support professional learning records
Increased confidence navigating difficult workplace conversations
Skills relevant to leadership, supervision, teamwork and client-facing roles
Practical negotiation and collaborative problem-solving strategies
A reusable workbook or course resources for ongoing application
Greater awareness of interpersonal patterns that can affect psychological health and performance
A personalised action plan for applying assertiveness skills in professional settings
Your Instructor
Andrea (Andy) Solange Sarmonikas
Andrea (Andy) Solange Sarmonikas is an Australian registered psychologist and Founder and Director of Ultivate Psychological Health.
Her work focuses on psychological health, professional flourishing, leadership, communication, behavioural change and the development of enriched professional environments. She is particularly interested in how psychological science can be applied before people reach crisis, helping individuals strengthen the interpersonal, emotional and behavioural skills that support sustainable work, relationships and leadership.
Andy’s approach brings together evidence-based psychology with practical application. In this course, she teaches assertiveness not simply as a communication technique, but as an important psychological health skill.
Participants explore how boundaries, conflict, negotiation, self-respect, emotional regulation and communication patterns influence wellbeing and relationships. The emphasis is on developing assertiveness that is neither aggressive nor avoidant, but clear, psychologically informed and respectful of both self and others.
Through Ultivate, Andy develops psychology-led programs designed to help professionals move beyond coping toward greater self-leadership, psychological health and human flourishing.