If this heading resonates with you, please read on.
It's one of the hardest, most upsetting personal challenges that I have been helping clients with for the last 15+ years. To feel unheard. Not listened to. Railroaded over when speaking.
Does this happen to you? Does it leave you feeling... Dismissed? Devalued? Damaged?
When this cycle becomes a habitual state which you feel is inevitable every time you go into that particular situation, the effects can be devastating. I have helped clients who describe experiencing feelings of physical sickness, of dread, of considering leaving their job rather than face, or continue to face, a particular meeting or event. I have had a client say to me: "Honestly Heather, it feels like I've got PTSD whenever I think about it".
This is no way to have to live or work, and the extreme-sounding examples I've mentioned here came from clients who were reaching a crisis point as they continued to feel powerless to do anything about it. Each of these clients approached me because they felt that at the root of their unhappiness were issues with their
VOICE.
Our voice, breath, physicality and state of mind are all linked. As a voice and performance specialist, I work with each individual to address their vocal and performance issues in practical ways to achieve positive results. If you are feeling unhappy, stressed, hopeless, frustrated, or concerned about an issue which you feel stems from your voice, I am here to reassure you that it does not have to stay this way.
Perhaps you identify yourself as a naturally quiet person. Perhaps you don't remember having ever raised your voice in your life. If you try and speak up you find yourself 'pushing' your voice, so that it quickly tires and you may even start to feel it weakening, getting husky and scratchy, or it packs up and disappears altogether. The idea of having to become a loud, forceful person in order to make your presence felt is simply not 'you'. Well, you don't have to change your personality or who you fundamentally are in order to develop these skills.
Let's have a look at a few of the most frequently requested voice and speech skills which clients have achieved and continue to achieve with me, whilst remaining true to their authentic self:
- STRONGER, LOUDER OR CLEARER VOICE.
- MORE DYNAMIC / LESS MONOTONE VOICE.
- LOWER VOICE.
- CLEARER SPEECH - ARTICULATING WORDS MORE CLEARLY.
- SOUNDING CALM, ASSURED, CONFIDENT.
I have helped many people to incorporate these skills into their everyday life and work; and I can help you too. So if you feel talked over, not listened to, or simply unheard, if this makes you feel like the poor little mouse pictured here; I can give you the tools to begin the process of changing that.
