For many of us stepping outside of our comfort zone and trying something new can be a daunting task. The most common barrier to change, is fear. Tapping into that fear is a complex journey. Earlier this month we had the pleasure of sitting down to talk with Dr Amy Silver, a thought leader on how to change behaviour.
Excited to delve deeper into this area and fascinated by Amy's doctorate we started our conversation back where it all began.
The hard yards to becoming a Clinical Psychologist...
"My initial training was in clinical psychology, an eight-year training program, partly academic and partly clinical. I became an Academic Tutor at Oxford University, training and supervising Clinical Psychology Doctorate students, while doing my own research and publishing books and journals. My own thesis was in the avoidance of fear, which was all about how some people choose not to do things because they are trying to avoid the fear that goes along with doing it. I explored this concept for those that suffer with chronic fatigue syndrome and looked into whether there was any link between fear of exercise and behaviour. What we found, and continued to find was that fear determines outcome in so many different physical conditions. Simply put, if we are fearful, we make our world smaller, and that in turn impacts our physical and mental health.
On completion of her training, Amy joined the prestigious Oxford University in the UK.
As I progressed in seniority, on the clinical side of my work, I was treating those who were at the very severe end of their therapy needs, people with personality disorders, self-harmers and suicide attempts. It was incredibly tough, I felt like I was caught in this skewed reality and feeling burnt out, and not wanting to hear about the day to day issues of people in my life as they paled in significance to what I was hearing from my clients. My clients often had terrible lives, with awful things happening to them for no particular reason or fault of their own. I ended up becoming consumed by my role, feeling negative towards our world. I knew I needed a break and a change, so I went into..... acting! I had wanted to do it for ages and had been involved with amateur dramatics in the village where I lived in the UK and decided to give it a go".
From Oxford tutor to Subway sandwich girl......
"I thought going into acting would be kind of restorative, but it was absolutely incredible and turned out to be the best year of my life. After the course finished I was in a show and an agent saw me and took me on, so I decided to make a go of it! I learnt how to play again, which was great. Of course, the money wasn't quite what I had been used to and a lot of status came from being an Oxford tutor, so it was certainly an adjustment going to auditions for adverts for Subway and having to be a sandwich! I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to do it for very long. I would love to have stuck with it, especially if it was all about dissecting texts and working with a group and pouring over what the author meant, but, most of the time I was going to audition for bad adverts!
Once a psychologist always a psychologist...
"I didn't completely leave the therapy behind and instead I ran private sessions alongside my acting and I came across a training company that employed actors. I quickly saw a gap in the market as I knew about psychology and understood how to get people 
to change. I started helping the training company write their courses and encouraged them to implement the theory of how you help people change within a training world. I loved it and worked with them until we came to Australia.
The move down under...
"My first job in Australia was as a narrator for a market research firm. I worked with a group of scientists who conducted research for brands. My role involved facilitating meetings, and narrating the outcomes of the research pre and post-delivery. I ensured the team stayed on track with the purpose of the research and then on the other side I supported clients to help them understand what the research said. I was made redundant in 2014 from this role which was a blessing in disguise, as it gave me the impetus to pull it all back together and go back to my roots, helping people change.
Dr Amy Silver... behavioural change specialist
"I know a lot about what makes people change, why some people change and why some people don't. I know I can help people change their behaviour and help them achieve what they thought previously impossible. I find the professional services the place that suits me the most.. I do coaching, training and keynote speeches empowering professionals to achieve their business and career goals. I also help teams, challenging them to make a commitment to each other (and to themselves) encouraging them to focus on how to make the team function better. It's about what's blocking you from being the person you want to be at work? Or what's blocking you from achieving your goal? The first step is wanting to make the change."
Bravery: The holy grail of excellence...
"One of my keynote topics covers bravery and how to be brave in your decision making. In order to change you have to have a bit of bravery, a reason, and be focused on your goals. Of course, the support and the environment has to be right too. When I'm coaching, I ask a series of questions that encourage behavioural experimentation. It's like Weight Watchers, it's not that complicated, but sometimes you just need somebody to step you through it and make you feel that it's ok. If you fail it's ok, we can try something else or I'm there to support you and advise that it's not a bad idea to give it a go, failure is part of the process, not the end".
Breaking the mould, mothers are leaders...
As a mother herself, Amy has faced the challenge of continuing her career and juggling family life. So it was no surprise to learn that Amy has developed a keynote Masterclass dedicated to drawing out the power that innately exists in mothers and bringing that across into the professional arena.
"I was really excited to host my first public event the #Mothership at The Olsen earlier this month, which predominantly targeted mothers who work in professional services. If you open up the leadership text books and read about the definition of a leader, it is those skills as mothers that we are implementing all the time at home 24/7. So why don't we feel prouder of those skills and transport them back to the corporate space? I enjoy empowering mothers and guiding them towards being champions!"
What's next for Dr Amy Silver?
Amy has most recently launched a fantastic program called Power Up, which focuses on three key elements Clarity, Credibility and Courage.
"Power Up and Over your Workload" is targeted at professionals who are experiencing overwhelm with the amount of work they have, struggling to be a true leader because they are caught in the quicksand of work. It is for organisations that want to help their colleagues bring the best of their brain to work, enabling the expertise of senior colleagues to be used to the full.
The 180 day program is split into two parts, the first, is a half day Masterclass on Power Up and Above your Workload. A powerful session with pre-work before, so people arrive ready to face the things they know are holding them back from being their best. They leave with clear goals and a solid plan on how they personally can change – I love that half day! Once complete, the second part involves monthly webinars, one-on-one coaching, homework and accountability measures to ensure implementation. Change is guaranteed, so much so that I offer a money back guarantee if you have not multiplied your impact and influence at work as a consequence of the 180-day program. As the group itself becomes an additional support for real change, I only take on 6 people per month.".
Dr Amy's lasting thought...
"Ultimately I want to help people be more powerful, be what they want to be, and to push forward in their worlds so they can give their very best to others, reducing wasted time, wasted emotion and wasted potential. I want people to realise how much power they have within themselves. You have control over your own behaviour and you can choose to be brave and you can choose to do something or to be something you previously thought you couldn't".
Want to Know More?
To find out more about Dr Amy Silver and her Power Up and Over your Workload program please visit http://dramysilver.com/ or call 0421 955 700 or email hello@dramysilver.com. To be the first to hear about thought leading news and updates sign up to Silverline'ings http://dramysilver.com/silverlinings/
Find Dr Amy Silver on Facebook/DrAmySilver
and Twitter @DrAmySilver
