Senior Lawyer Overcomes Severe Public Speaking Anxiety
From avoidance to a confident keynote at a major legal conference
Summary
A senior lawyer transformed their relationship with public speaking in weeks. After severe anticipatory anxiety and years of avoidance, they engaged me to calm the nervous system and address the root drivers of fear. They went on to deliver a high‑stakes keynote with poise and confidence.
Client
Senior Lawyer, invited keynote speaker at a major legal conference.
Challenge
Severe anticipatory anxiety with physical and psychological symptoms:
Heart palpitations
Disturbed sleep and rumination
Strong avoidance urges
Unhelpful belief: “I can’t be seen to have notes.”
Context
Referred to me after seeing the results I achieved with a colleague.The biggest constraint was the very tight timeline before a keynote speech at a large conference.
All sessions between us were online, as the client lived abroad.
Impact
Serious consideration of avoiding the event altogether
Catastrophic predictions about reputation and audience reception
Significant mental and emotional cost in the run‑up
Approach
Bespoke plan focused on nervous system regulation
Challenge and update unhelpful beliefs without invalidating fears
Place fears in context (no forced “positive thinking”)
Practical permission structures (cue cards/notes) to keep cognition online under stress
Rehearsal strategy: together and solo, until the material was second nature
Delivery
One of the client’s beliefs was, “I can’t be seen to have notes”. I challenged this, “So you’d rather risk going blank in front of all these big legal players than have a few cue cards?” We worked on the very human negative possibilities in the brain: “They will hate me and my message, I will mess up and my reputation in the industry will be ruined forever”.
We rehearsed out loud and the client rehearsed extensively alone. The client knew their material inside out and back to front.
On the morning of the keynote, despite poor sleep from jet lag and networking, we normalized nerves and created contingencies (“If needed, read it verbatim.”).
Results
Confident delivery of the entire keynote without using notes
Poised, impressive stage presence
Post‑event reflection: “I was exceptional that day.”
What the client valued most
“Thank you for literally changing my life. I’ll forever be grateful.
I was incredibly anxious about an important speaking event at a conference. The thought alone gave me palpitations, and I was seriously considering creative ways to avoid it altogether. But I knew public speaking was essential for my career, so I decided to face my fear head-on.
After just three sessions with Olivia, I stepped onto the stage with confidence and composure. Audience members even commented afterwards on how poised I seemed. While I still experienced some natural pre-event nerves, it was nothing compared to the overwhelming anxiety I had before.
Olivia didn’t just help me nail that one event—she gave me invaluable tools that will continue to propel my career forward. I’m truly grateful to her and all that she’s done for me.”
How would you describe things before we worked together, and 4 virtual sessions later, how do you feel about the way things have gone?
“Could not have gone better, I thought I was coming in to tackle my speaking anxiety and ended up going on a much deeper journey of self‑exploration that helped me resolve issues I had which I didn’t even know were there. This had a ripple effect across other areas of my life where I was being held back—specifically, I had developed a driving anxiety that prohibited me from driving on a motorway which I avoided for over a decade. I just drove 21 miles on a motorway with minimal anxiety. This was beyond unthinkable just a few weeks ago.
How long would it have taken you to get to where you are now without Olivia’s help?
I wouldn’t have got here.
What did you get from working with Olivia that you didn’t expect?
Clarity around underlying beliefs that weren’t serving me and which I wasn’t even aware of.
How does Olivia’s approach compare with previous therapy or coaching I’ve tried? Totally different—undoubtedly the most effective.”
Three words or phrases that sum up your experience of working with Olivia.
“Surprising, warm, life-changing”
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