• Interrupting the thought patterns that fuel public speaking anxiety before, during and after high-pressure situations.

• Challenging perfectionism, catastrophic thinking and the fear of making mistakes under pressure.

• Reducing self-monitoring so you can stay focused on the situation rather than how you're coming across.

• Breaking the cycle of anticipatory anxiety, over-preparation and post-performance rumination.

• Identifying and changing safety behaviours that unintentionally maintain performance anxiety.

• Learning evidence-based techniques to work with anxiety rather than fighting against it.

• Developing a calmer, more flexible mindset so you can perform consistently, even when nerves are present.

Understand how your brain responds to status, hierarchy and evaluation under pressure.

Public speaking anxiety isn't just about what you're doing, it's also about what your brain believes is at stake.

Human brains are highly attuned to status, hierarchy and social evaluation. Whether you're presenting to senior leaders, performing for selectors or speaking in the public eye, these systems can amplify feelings of pressure, self-consciousness and threat.

Together we'll explore:

• Understanding how your brain responds to hierarchy, status and evaluation in high-pressure environments.

• Recognising when your nervous system has shifted into a social threat state and how that affects your performance.

• Understanding why rankings, authority figures and high-stakes audiences can disproportionately increase pressure, even when you're well prepared.

• Learning how self-monitoring, perfectionism and fear of judgement interact with your brain's threat systems.

• Exploring how earlier experiences may have shaped your relationship with competition, authority, visibility and success.

• Developing practical strategies to regulate your nervous system so you can stay present and perform under pressure.

EMDR may help you to:

• Process distressing performance experiences, such as freezing on stage, panic during a presentation, choking under pressure or receiving harsh public criticism.

• Reduce the emotional intensity of memories that continue to trigger anxiety before performances.

• Reprocess experiences that have led you to doubt your abilities, despite your competence and experience.

• Break the link between being visible and feeling under threat.

• Reduce anticipatory anxiety before important performances, competitions or presentations.

• Help your nervous system learn that being seen, evaluated or under pressure no longer means danger.

• Perform with greater presence, flexibility and trust in your abilities, rather than constantly managing fear.

EMDR is particularly effective when public speaking anxiety can be traced back to specific experiences that your mind has moved on from, but your nervous system hasn't.