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Being Courageous by Design:
The Neuroscience of Confidence that Lasts

3-Hour Online Applied Neuroscience Workshop

With Professor Patricia Riddell & Ian McDermott
Wednesday 18 February 2026, 2-5pm UK time

Learning how your brain creates confidence gives you the tools to meet challenges, decisions, and opportunities as they arise - not someday, but now.

Earlybird Price
£175+VAT

(Rising to £225+VAT)

Confidence and courage aren’t things that some people naturally have or just appear when circumstances finally align; they’re skills you can learn to design and build.

Because courage and confidence are intangible - felt more than seen - it’s easy to tell ourselves we’ll work on them “later.” They rarely feel urgent…until we find ourselves wishing we had them. Yet when we choose to invest time in understanding and developing these inner capacities, the impact is profound and lasting.

What would become possible if confidence wasn’t something you hoped for but something you intentionally designed?

Imagine trusting yourself not because everything feels certain, but because you finally understand how your brain builds courage.

How would your leadership, relationships, and wellbeing shift if you knew how to regulate your emotions in the moments that matter most?

This workshop blends cutting-edge neuroscience with practical tools to help you understand, regulate, and rewire the way you experience confidence and courage. It will also shape how you help others build theirs.

What You’ll Learn

1. Confidence vs Courage – What’s Really Happening in the Brain

Explore the neuroscience behind confidence (certainty that you can) and courage (the willingness to try even when you don’t know if you can). You’ll discover how true confidence is built through courageous action — and how to intentionally design both.

2. The Neuroscience of Self

How does your brain represent, monitor, and evaluate your sense of self? Learn how to strengthen your personal narrative and so that you choose to act in line with the best version of you.

3. The Role of Self-Regulation and Prediction Errors in Creating Confidence

Understand how better emotion regulation builds the courage to try and how we learn through the difference between our expectation and reality (prediction errors).

4. Quieting the Inner Critic & Building Empathy for Self

Your inner critic can protect or paralyze you. Learn why we are often more critical of ourselves than of others and how to break this habit.

Your Workshop Experience

This workshop will not be a lecture — it’s a hands-on learning lab.

You’ll apply neuroscience concepts in real time through interactive discussions, pair work, and reflective exercises designed to give you direct experience.

  • Understand how confidence and courage emerge in the brain
  • Practise emotional self-regulation strategies
  • Redesign your inner narrative for lasting self-belief and confidence
  • Leave with practical tools you can use immediately.

Meet your Trainers

Professor Patricia Riddell

Patricia Riddell is a Professor of Applied Neuroscience known for making complex science deeply practical. Her work bridges cutting-edge research with real-world tools that help people understand and rewire the brain for better thinking, resilience, and emotional regulation. Patricia brings clarity, warmth, and deep expertise to every learning experience.

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Ian McDermott

Ian McDermott is a leading innovator and author in the fields of leadership, coaching, and behavioural change. He is known for turning insight into action - giving people practical, immediately usable tools that transform how they lead, work, and live. Ian’s approach is grounded, human, and always focused on creating real-world impact.

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Earlybird Price £175+VAT

(Rising to £225+VAT)

Got a question? Pop us an email to info@itsnlp.com or give us a ring on +441268777125.

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