Taming your imposter: supporting female leaders in developing greater self-acceptance

Ritta Husted is a senior academic at the University of Essex, linguist and coach. She is an experienced educator who places her students at the very centre of her teaching. She is an Accredited Psychological Coach working with clients on gaining the clarity needed to take bold and brave decisions. Her approach is the evidence-based Cognitive Behavioural Coaching approach which allows her clients to examine not only their thinking but also the impact their emotions have on their performance or well-being. She specialises in Leadership and Career Coaching and works with leaders and their teams to provide opportunities to establish shared values and work on the psychological safety needed to thrive at work whilst at the same time deliver for the organisation. She delivers Academic Coaching Conversation training to academics to support the personal tutoring offering and helps students to become active participants in their own learning.

This course will take place in a group, online live for 3-hours from 9am to 12pm (UK time) on 3 March 2025.

This course will give you an opportunity to explore five common types of imposter syndrome and develop some skills which will enable you to acknowledge your imposter but not let it define who you are.

Taming your impostor is not about ignoring how you are feeling, but to acknowledge those feelings and check if they are based in reality; the best way to fight impostor syndrome is to separate your feelings from the facts.

Through a Cognitive Behavioural Coaching approach, you will be invited to work with a challenge you are currently facing and start to take some action. For long-lasting results, you will develop a toolkit for future use.

Participants should bring one or two examples of goals, or problems, they are struggling with, to the course for them to work with and develop an action plan. They should also be prepared to revisit a success they had in the past.

All participants who successfully complete the course will receive a Certificate of Completion issued by the University of Essex.

Applications are now open and the deadline to apply is 3 February 2025.      

There are no formal admission requirements, but the recommended language level is B2/C1 as this training is delivered entirely in English.

This course is designed for students and staff from all universities, as well as young professionals and senior experts, with a focus on women in leadership.