On this page, we talk about standing up for yourself.
Why you should stand up for yourself
It is important to learn how to stand up for yourself.
Standing up for yourself can help you:
- get what you need and want
- get along with other people
- feel less stressed.
It can also help you:
- feel better about yourself
- get through hard times.
Standing up for yourself might feel scary.
And it may not fix all of your problems.
But knowing how to stand up for yourself can help you live a better life.
How to stand up for yourself
When you stand up for yourself, you should:
- be honest about how you feel
- clearly say what you want and need.
You can start with the word ‘I’ when you talk about how you feel.
This can be a good way to share your feelings without blaming anyone.
For example, you could say ‘I feel sad when you do not call me back’.
When you stand up for yourself, you should explain your
Boundaries are rules we set for:
- ourselves
- how we want other people to treat us.
When you stand up for yourself, you should try to look
When you are confident, you:
- believe in yourself
- know what you can do
- can try new things.
For example, you could:
- look into the person’s eyes when you talk to them
- keep your back straight when you stand or sit.
When you stand up for yourself, you should treat other people with respect.
You should not try to upset other people or take away their
Rights are rules about how people must treat you:
- fairly
- equally.
Support for you
Sometimes you might not feel safe to stand up for yourself.
For example, to someone who has used
Violence or abuse is when someone:
- hurts you
- scares you
- controls you.
We have information and resources on this website to help you get support if you do not feel safe.
You can find out more on our page about support.
You can also get to help you become more confident.
Counselling is when you work with someone to explore how you think and feel.
This can help you:
- reach goals
- feel safe
- learn skills
- understand what happened to you.
You can find out more on our page about counselling.
You can contact 1800RESPECT for support and counselling.
You can call them.
1800 737 732
You can talk to someone online.
You can send them a text message.
0458 737 732
If you send them a text message, you can just send the word ‘HELLO’.
Example story
We wrote a story to show an example of how to stand up for yourself.
The story we wrote is about a person called Ellie.
The story and the people in it are not real.
We made them up to explain how to stand up for yourself.
Ellie’s story
Ellie has been working in her job for 5 years.
She works hard and knows a lot about her job.
But Ellie’s job has not changed in a long time.
She feels like she is not achieving her goals.
Ellie knows that she has a hard time standing up for herself.
But she decides to become more confident.
Ellie starts to speak up about the work she does at meetings with:
- the rest of her team
- her boss.
Ellie’s boss starts to notice her skills.
After some time, Ellie’s job changes so she:
- has more things to do
- earns more money.
