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Let’s change your relationship with fear and gain public speaking self-confidence

10-week online group designed to help you fear less and speak more.

This signature offering combines psychoeducation, science-based strategies, in-class activities, and group-based learning to help individuals develop their own personalized toolkits for coping with public-speaking fears.

Upcoming Dates:

Registration is open for our upcoming public speaking groups starting April 2024.

Two upcoming groups are available:

  • Tuesday evening group beginning September 17, 2024

  • Wednesday daytime group TBD fall 2024

Join the waitlist for future groups by booking a consultation here.

Available to Ontario and Nova Scotia Residents only at this time


What our attendee’s are saying…

Survey Responses were collected at 10 weeks and each question rated on a 10-point rating scale.

How would you rate the group in terms of meeting your expectations?

I learned skills and tools to help me better manage my fear of public speaking.

This group helped me gain new perspectives to reframe my fears.

The group was a valuable use of my time.

 

WHAT CAN I EXPECT?

  • Lecture-based with experiential exercises

  • Science-based strategies and theoretically-grounded

  • Group participation/ learning

  • Summary sheet with key messages from the week

  • Chapter reviews of assigned group book

 

Who is it for?

  • You are filled with dread prior to/during public-speaking and performing

  • You avoid public-speaking situations

  • Feel disappointed, frustrated or embarrassed about your performance in meetings, interviews and/or presentations

  • You find your nervousness impairs your performance

 

WHEN DO WE MEET?

For each cohort, we meet weekly for 90-mins over Zoom. The program is open to Ontario residents only and is limited to 8 participants. 

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Toronto based Psychologist Amanda Tobe sitting and smiling at the camera.
 

Hosted by Toronto Psychologist, Amanda Tobe

I'm Amanda and I'm an organizational psychologist who is passionate about helping my clients build confidence in the workplace and purposeful careers. Within my private practice, I have worked with dozens of clients who have felt held back by their public speaking fears. It's always been a goal of mine to create a signature group service that is practically based but also theoretically-grounded. I studied interview anxiety for 5+ years in graduate school and co-authored a number of publications, including most recently in Harvard Business Review. My unwavering passion for this topic only continues to grow.


“Be Messy & Complicated and show up anyway”

~ GLENNON DOYLE


 

Take a peek inside:

Week 1

Introduction & Overview

This session will leave you with a solid roadmap of where we are going and what’s in store. This is a mandatory session as we will be reviewing the ‘house rules’ for group work and how to get the most out of the next 10 weeks.


Week 2

Getting to Know your Fear

As psychologists we often say ‘to name it is to tame it’ to help us make sense of our fears. In this group session, our main objective is to understand the source and triggers of our public speaking fears, both on a micro and macro level.


Week 3

Building your Speaking Hierarchy

Getting exposure to the speaking situations we are avoiding is a huge part of changing our relationship to the fear. In this session we identify public speaking situations you will get practice with during our 10 weeks (and beyond!)


Week 4

Learn to Ride the Wave

Always rated as a top-favourite session, we talk about what it means to ride the wave and review a framework to help you let the fear flow through you (via “the T-Swift exercise”). Hint: when we stop responding to the fear, our bodies will adjust and the adrenaline will start to wane.


Week 5

Tolerating Unpleasant Feelings

It might surprise you to know that we are sometimes more afraid of the unpleasant feelings post speaking more than speaking itself. In this group, we talk about learning to work through unpleasant feelings related to speaking like disappointment, embarrassment and shame.


Week 6

Connect with Your Body & Breath

It all comes down to our breath. In this group we talk about some practical tips to connect with your breath and body to feel yourself and speak with greater ease. “Speaking is a whole-body experience” and therefore we even incorporate methods to help you relax your body prior to speaking.


Week 7

Combat Negative Self-Talk

We are our own worst critics and this only serves to reinforce our fears. In today’s session we are going to tackle the negative self-talk and learn why changing our mindset is critical to changing our relationship with public-speaking


Week 8

Focusing Less on You

Learn the difference between adopting an observer vs. field perspective while speaking and why this is the key to being present with your audience. We also explore how we can transform performance anxiety into performance energy.


Week 9

Visualization and Mental Imagery

We think in terms of images when it comes to fear. In this group, we work on developing new images of ourselves feeling successful through understanding how we want to feel (and how we want our audience to feel, too!)


Week 10

Bringing it All Together

Our time together comes to an end this week! Let’s learn from one another about our key takeaways and set some goals to get in the spotlight! Our group members share their final capstone projects and talk about their growth while participating in the group.

 
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GROUP FAQs

  • Step 1: Schedule Intro Call

    Email dr.amandatobe@gmail.com or use the booking link to set up a free 20 minute phone call.

    Step 2: Pre-screen Virtual Interview

    There will be a short pre-screen survey of approximately 50 minutes to assess whether the group fit is suitable. The pre-screen interview is 50 mins and costs $250.

    Step 3: Complete Confidentiality Form

    Because confidentiality is critical to builidng trust, all members are required to complete the form prior to the first session. We will review the group privacy/confidentiality rules in detail during Week 1.

  • You must be 19 years and older and a resident of Ontario and have access to the virtual sessions.

    The program is limited to 8 participants (run with a minimum of 6 individuals).

    This program is not intended to treat those with social anxiety or panic disorder.

  • The group is designed to build each week. When group members miss a week they are advised to schedule a private 1:1 session of approx. 50 mins. (note: all 1:1 sessions are billed at the standard practice rate).

  • Group Pre-screen

    For all new clients, they will be required to have a 50 min pre-screen interview ($250).

    Retainer (deposit)

    Following the pre-screen, we require a deposit prior to joining the first workshop. This fee will be reflected in your weekly session receipt.

    Session Fees

    Sessions will be billed following your attendance of each session at $210/90 min session. You will receive a receipt that you may submit to your insurance provider.

    At this time, e-transfer is accepted only.

 
Psychologist Amanda Tobe sitting and leaning on a white couch and talking on the phone.

Are you ready?

This service is intended to help you make progress with your public speaking self-confidence over 10 weeks. If that sounds like you, then we would love to chat with you about your next steps. Click the link below to schedule a consultation call with me. 

 
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NOT THE RIGHT TIME?

 

Public Speaking Monthly Drop-In Sessions

Access exclusive monthly support to maintain your public speaking progress

8 people maximum
$180 | 90 mins

This group is only open exclusively for current clients who have completed our 10-week group programs. You’ll gain:

  • Additional time to practice public speaking

  • Extended breakout rooms with questions for you to work through in groups

  • Retain key messaging by participating in additional conversations about key content

  • Opportunities to debrief or process recent speaking experiences or share something you’re stumped on

 
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FREE RESOURCE

Creating Your Public Speaking Mastery Pyramid

Get our free workbook to help you map out and practice situations for overcoming the fear of public speaking. In this guide, we help you identify creative ways to get practice with public speaking and you’ll rank them from least to most anxiety inducing. It’s this kind of courage and effort that will help you build your public speaking self-confidence.