Transform the lives of quiet, shy and socially anxious people through drama

Train in the Sunflower Effect – the most effective confidence-building method for quiet, shy and vulnerable people that outstrips traditional methods
What is the Sunflower Effect?
The Sunflower Effect® is a pioneering and proven confidence-building system, based in dramatherapy, that transforms the lifestyle and prospects of quiet, shy and socially anxious people.

How is it different from other confidence courses?
It achieves outstanding, lasting results very quickly.
Most confidence-building and therapy techniques, classically don’t work for shy, self-conscious or socially anxious people. This includes assertiveness training, CBT, hypnotherapy and talking therapies. Whilst these approaches will help to build confidence, they don’t go far enough in building the kind of confidence that makes a difference to people’s lives.
Participants of the Sunflower Effect®, however, report life-changing results. Many have paid out thousands of pounds and wasted years of their life, before in desperation, they discovered the Sunflower Effect®.
See this explanation of the psychological underpinning as to how and why the Sunflower Effect® achieves such exceptional results.
Our mission
Reasons for training to become a Sunflower Effect Confidence Specialist
Support to build a thriving practice
If you sign up for the marketing programme, you won’t have to build a website, learn complex technology, or know anything about marketing and attracting clients to your work.
I will teach it all to you. I have done the donkey work, taken the risks and invested thousands of pounds in discovering the best way to attract and retain clients. The methods I will teach you have been tried, tested — and are proven to work.
And they won’t break the bank.
I welcome applications from you for these reasons:
- You have some understanding of what it is like to be shy, self-conscious and lacking in confidence.
- You are highly motivated to help people with confidence issues. You are good at supporting others, caring, grounded and enthusiastic.
- You operate better within a team than working on your own. You want to be part of a bigger vision that is going to make a real difference in the lives of quieter people.
- You are a drama professional (performer, teacher) who is looking for a new direction. Dramatherapists: please click here. You may be an Arts Therapist or occupational therapist with an interest in drama. Or, you may just have a love of drama.
- You are a therapist, coach, counsellor or in the helping professions and realise there is more to confidence than talking. You would like to offer the Sunflower Effect Confidence Courses to your clients.
- You have participated in one of my courses and have been able to say goodbye to shyness, social anxiety and any other issue that has undermined your confidence. You feel inspired to train to support others to do the same.
- You would like to offer the Sunflower Effect Confidence Courses within your organisation.
Download an Information Pack to learn more.
Please be aware that the pack relates to the last training in 2021-2022. It will give you an idea of what to expect. The next training is planned to be a hybrid between in-person and distance learning.
The Sunflower Effect has changed the lives of many quiet, shy and introverted people
See their stories. Here are just some of the responses from participants:

It’s been six months since I did the course, and I’m still seeing the benefits. I surprise myself sometimes as to where my confidence comes from in relating to people.
Peregine C. Health Practitioner

Excellent value for money. One, it worked, and two so many other therapies are way more expensive and haven’t worked. Making Moves are cheap for what they are.
Jane Timberlake, now a Sunflower Effect Course leader in Training

By the end of the course, I could really tell I’d made a massive shift. I feel like I’m a lot more authentic and accepting of myself with less feelings of being inferior and needing to hide my true self. For me, this course truly was a lifeline.
Elizabeth G. graphic designer

I’ve done other kinds of work but this had a lightning effect on my psyche. It provided a short cut to the hidden recesses of my unconscious. No one else is offering anything like this.
Rob Buchiski, E-Consultant
Introductory Confidence Training Workshop

Prior to launching the 2nd Training in September 2024, I will be running one or two Introductory Confidence Training Workshops to discover the basic framework for all Sunflower Effect Courses and help you find out if the Foundation Training is the right decision for you.
Please note: This workshop is the first step in your training process.
However, it does not commit you to the full Foundation Training should you decide not to take the training further.
Introductory Sunflower Effect Confidence Training Workshop.
Dates: Weekend in February/March 2024 TBA
Times: 10-30-5.30pm approx
Venue: TBA Probably Hybrid
Cost: £250 (normal price) – discounted to £200 for a hybrid training
The workshop will take place at my house in North Greenford, with distance participants joining us on Zoom.
About Claire Schrader

I started out in life as a shy introvert and proverbial wallflower. That is until I found a way at age 22, to break out of my shell, through the power of drama.
It changed my life, and I have never looked back.
You can read about my journey in my book, From Wallflower to Sunflower, the quiet person’s guide to natural confidence.
I developed Sunflower Effect Courses over a 20 year period. I have been helping people through dramatherapy-based personal development courses and workshops in the UK, America and Europe since 1997. In 2012, I tripled my income and client base running the Sunflower Effect Courses.
My academic work includes editing Ritual Theatre, The Power of Dramatic Ritual in Personal Development Groups and Clinical Practice published by Jessica Kingsley.
You can find one of my chapter’s “Breaking Through the Walls of Shyness: Overcoming Shyness, Self-Consciousness and Social Anxiety Through Dramatherapy” in the Routledge International Handbook of Dramatherapy.
I have been featured in Marie-Claire (Malaysia), Kindred Spirit, Positive Health, and Counselling News, on Sky TV, BBC World Services and Radio 4.
Read more:
How does the Sunflower Effect achieve such significant shifts in people?
What is the theory behind the Sunflower Effect?
Interviews with me about my approach.
Want to know more?
Training Enquiry
Please fill in this form if you are interested in training or have a question about training. We suggest that you request an information pack – you should find the link on this page. This will give you much more an idea of the content of the training and if it will be a good fit for you.