Recent feedback from participants of the Challenge of Change Resilience Training. Feedback is invited anonymously from participants but the names of the companies implementing the training has been provided.
Fertility Associates, June/July 2015
"Cynthia was fascinating and I really enjoyed her. Kept my attention the whole time. Excellent!"
"In a team environment when a colleague is "stuck" and wont (cant) let a point go, we can now use a common language to encourage them to move up into the loft."
"Course was excellent and highly recommend it to people. Gave good insight into my working relationship with team along with understanding."
University of Canterbury, June 2015
"I have learned the damage stress and rumination can do to my health and affect the quality of my life. Cynthia is an awesome and engaging presenter."
"Really impressed. Has made a positive difference already."
"I tend to procrastinate over tasks I think will be challenging. I will now approach these by getting 'into the loft' asking myself '"what's that worse that could happen?" then detaching myself – let go of feelings – be objective."
Mitre 10, April May 2014
"This course is probably the first course that is so simple yet so complex at the same time. It was strange that even though it didn't feel like you were learning things, you actually learned more. As a presenter Cynthia is extremely knowledgeable, and your highly academic background only added to the course enjoyment. Thanks for coming to Mitre 10."
"This has been the most valuable session I've attended. It has made it more possible for me to understand myself and be able to implement change to enhance myself and my reports' activities."
"The evidence-based approach used by this programme made it very real and practical – it wasn't based on traditional 'fluff' and theories. It was very insightful and has given me the opportunity to empower myself now – there is no-one stopping me except me! Thank you very much."
Auckland University of Technology, February 2014
"Brilliant, enjoyable and useful day. Cynthia is very warm and real and she made this 'make sense'."
"Fantastic presenter. Life experiences give/provide a connection and glue to what has been covered. Humorous. Excellent day thank you."
"Excellent time well spent. Great facilitation!"
Carter Holt Harvey, November 2014
"In future stress situations I will step away from it instead of dealing with it in my mind over and over again."
"I'm going to focus on waking up and develop strategies and tactics to stop ruminating."
"Thank you. I really enjoyed the course. I have learned heaps and will take this home to share with my family."
SHINE, September 2014
"The differences between pressure and stress were well explained and having a way to reframe difficult issues which confront us is very useful."
"It changed everything for me and I have started thinking about some things that have been upsetting me in a different way."
"The imagery of the house and sitting above in the loft was a great way to get perspective and get a grip!"
"One of those trained got very het up about a decision and drove home repeating the mantra, 'I'm in my loft, I'm in my loft' and calmed down. Next morning she came in with a totally new concept. She felt that letting go of her frustration and focussing on coming up with a better idea was extremely positive."
Clemenger BBDO, September 2014
"I think this course has outlined a bad habit that I never thought was breakable. I also never connected this absent-mindedness with stress. Working on controlling and mastering my attention will certainly help with productivity."
" I feel I'll be able to step back and think of the work as "the work", letting it be neutral so I'm not personally offended or upset by criticism. Will also help me be more collaborative."
"The loft terminology is great – now I know what to call it and organise my thoughts."
Genesis Energy, July 2014
'It's made me be aware of my attention and when necessary get into the loft by gaining perspective either from good self-questioning or from other perspectives."
"For me this course applies more to my personal life, but for work I think it will help me with presenting, not worrying a week in advance!
"It's made me want to build on my profile outcome. I want to focus on my Emotional Intelligence."
Ministry for Primary Industries, December 2012
"Totally brilliant course – common sense and feel very empowered to work on increasing resilience and decreasing stress. I leave the course with the confidence that I will be able to change my own behaviour and be able to influence those people closest to me (work and home). Thanks."
"Overall fantastic. Simple, practical skills. I will be able to use these in my everyday life and make a real change. Thank you."
"Loved the presentation style! Extremely valuable indeed to take back to work. The 'being awake' idea is transformational."
"Very interesting, and important/relevant particularly in a world of increasing pressure with e-mails and smartphones. Very well pitched, I remained awake for all of the session (well most) – really! Really enjoyed Derek's style, thoughtfulness, wisdom and the woven threads of subtle humour. I do hope this work continues widely and we have more happy people. Your tools could change the world! Thank you."
HRINZ 'Open Session' March 2011 Wellington
"Derek is so easy to listen to and even though the programme is based on scientific empirical data it actually is quite pragmatic!"
"Great presentation style. Grounded content excellent. Useful for my work – thank you so much."
"A different way of thinking about stress – I will go off with the challenge of ruminating less, being more efficient and living longer! I hope I'm up to the challenge!"
Christchurch City Council, March 2010
"This is one of the best training workshops I have experienced, would recommend to everyone. Nice relaxed presentation."
Fonterra, April and June 2010
"Excellent course – feel like I've found a way to really live my life. Feel very energised and motivated – everyone needs this. Thank you."
"From my perspective this was a very affirming course. The Profile provided a very accurate picture of me on areas which I thought might be quite negative personality traits. To find out that they were 'positive' was very affirming."
NZ Medical Council, July 2010
"I enjoyed that the course was pragmatic and based on evidence and research, rather than 'waffly' management buzz words and concepts."
"Enjoyable course with clear benefits. Refreshing to have things explained in a completely different way, with clear ways to put change in place."
Public Trust, July 2010
"My initial attitude was that I had too much on to attend. Wrong! Very worthwhile and I look forward to sharing it with colleagues and family (already started)."
"Thanks so much! Really enjoyed the whole session. You have made me extremely aware. One of the best seminars I have attended!"
University of Canterbury, August 2010
"Enjoyed the comprehensiveness of the course. Well organised, planned well. Facilitation open. Appreciated the simplicity of the programme, easy to understand concepts that I was able to implement immediately. Came at the right time for me personally as I am about to move from an admin to a management role."
"Very refreshing to have a course based on research, rather than platitudes. Also to have a clear, straightforward application path to follow."
"I thoroughly enjoyed the course and will definitely recommend it to staff members in my team who I think will benefit. I will work even harder to separate the 'job or task' and the person. Thanks for a fantastic course."
The Warehouse, March and June 2010
"This course has a great process to manage stress and I will definitely be putting it into practice at work and at home. It was explained very clearly how to put the procedures in place!"
"Great session, best I've been on so far, good amount of balance between session and breaks."
"Fascinating. Really recommend to all. Great to have an intelligent speaker who really knows what he is talking about and is very passionate."
Landcare Research, August 2010
"Fantastic presenter, with a clear knowledge of the science behind the issues discussed during the day. This is very important when dealing with scientists! Thank you."
HRINZ Professional Development programme, April 2010
"One of the most refreshing courses that I have been on in years. Extremely relevant and wonderfully presented."
"Brilliant. I will be recommending to other people in my organisation. I look forward to practising! And curing my rumination! I am pleased that I finally have an answer to the question 'why are you always sick when you're so physically fit?' Answer: 'I'm a chronic ruminator!'."
"I thought that this was an excellent course. It provided a lot of insight and an interesting way of thinking about stress. I really liked the personality profile exercise. Great concept of waking sleep! Would definitely recommend!"
Sealord Group, September 2010
"Fantastic! No wonder some people have said this is life changing. Really appreciated your sense of humour, your ability to answer some hard questions but this was because you know your topic incredibly well and have the research and evidence to back it up. Thank you so much."
"Thank you, I thoroughly enjoyed the workshop and learned a lot about myself and about others."
"Excellent course. Refreshing to listen to simple common sense and practical. Very 'safe' training (i.e., no role-plays etc.). Would highly recommend."
Department of Internal Affairs, September 2010
"Presentation style is calm and measured, I enjoyed this. You have given me much to think about – not ruminate about!"
"I was kept attentive throughout the course and have found all aspects worthwhile and informative. Very well presented and very good flow."
"Presentation was very interesting, it was nice to see my personality profile and have a basis for something I could relate to that was about me. Very well presented, would love a return session."