Many of you will have heard people say “You need to be more assertive!” but it can be really difficult to know exactly what this means. Being assertive is a style of communicating that allows us to express our own feelings, thoughts, beliefs and opinions in a way that does not ignore the rights of others.

You may have heard of other styles of communication, for example aggressive, which might prioritise your rights over those of others, or passive, where your own needs and rights are not met. You may have also heard of ‘passive-aggressive’, where someone is being aggressive in a passive or indirect way.