The Art of Conscious Influence & Impact
Influence Without Controlling
How to help, guide, and hold accountable without creating unnecessary resistance.
Have you ever found yourself working harder for someone’s change than they were?
You want to help.
You may want someone to make a healthier decision, follow through on a commitment, improve their performance, understand another perspective, or stop doing something that is causing harm.
So you explain. Remind. Correct. Encourage. Offer solutions. Perhaps you take on more responsibility because the outcome matters so much.
But even well-intended help can be experienced as pressure, criticism, rescuing, or control—and the result may be greater resistance rather than meaningful change
The Art of Conscious Influence & Impact is a practical workshop that will help you recognize when your efforts to influence are strengthening responsibility and connection—and when they may unintentionally be creating resistance.
You will learn how to communicate concerns, maintain accountability, and invite change without taking responsibility for another person’s choices.
Workshop Details
Date: Friday, September 18, 2026
Time: 1:00–4:00 PM Central Time
Location: Live online via Zoom
Investment: $69
Mental Freedom community rate: $45 for current and former Mental Freedom program participants
Who this Workshop Is For:
This workshop is especially relevant for counselors, coaches, supervisors, educators, and other helping professionals whose work depends on supporting change without taking over responsibility for it.
It’s also relevant for:
Mental health professionals
Leaders
Trainers and facilitators
Consultants
Anyone who wants to improve how they communicate, guide, and respond to others
Although these roles are different, they share a common challenge: how to influence people without taking responsibility for their choices or trying to force change.
What You Will Learn
During this interactive workshop, you will explore:
The difference between influence, pressure, correction, and control
How good intentions can unintentionally create pressure or resistance
The subtle controlling habits that often appear in helping relationships
Why people are more likely to change when they retain ownership of their decisions
How to communicate concerns without making another person wrong
How to offer information, perspective, and accountability while respecting choice
How to recognize when you are working harder for someone’s change than they are
Practical ways to strengthen connection while increasing your influence
Influence Without Control Does Not Mean Becoming Passive
Influence without control does not mean withholding feedback, tolerating harmful behavior, avoiding boundaries, or pretending that outcomes do not matter.
It means learning how to be clear, honest, and responsible for your own actions without assuming responsibility for another person’s choices.
You can communicate expectations.
You can establish boundaries.
You can offer consequences.
You can share your expertise.
You can invite change.
What you cannot do is control how another person responds.
The Central Question
How can I increase my positive influence without attempting to control the outcome?
This workshop will help you move away from communication that pressures, corrects, or manages people and toward communication that invites reflection, strengthens responsibility, and preserves the relationship.
You Will Leave With
Greater awareness of your own influence habits
A clearer understanding of why some approaches create resistance
Practical language for difficult conversations
Tools for maintaining connection without avoiding accountability
A framework for influencing with greater intention and integrity
Strategies you can apply immediately in professional and personal relationships
Continuing Education
This live workshop provides 3 continuing education hours for Illinois licensed professional counselors, clinical professional counselors, social workers, and clinical social workers.
The workshop also provides 3 continuing education hours for Board Certified Coaches.
Participants seeking continuing education credit must attend the live workshop in full and complete all required documentation. Viewing the recording does not qualify for continuing education credit.
Counselors and social workers licensed outside Illinois should check with their state licensing board to determine whether continuing education hours provided by an Illinois-approved sponsor will be accepted for their license renewals.
Alliance of Chicago Trainers, a subsidiary of Olver International, provider number 159.000885, is approved to provide continuing education for Illinois licensed professional counselors, clinical professional counselors, social workers, and clinical social workers.
Registration
Date: Friday, September 18, 2026
Time: 1:00–4:00 PM Central Time
Location: Live online via Zoom
Investment: $69
Mental Freedom community rate: $45 for current and former Mental Freedom program participants
Group Registration
Organizations may register five participants for $276, the cost of four standard registrations. All five participants must register together. Continuing education documentation will be issued individually to each eligible participant who completes the requirements.
Group pricing may not be combined with the Mental Freedom community rate.
To register a group, select the group-registration option below.
About Kim Olver
Kim Olver, LCPC, NCC, BCC
Kim Olver, LCPC, NCC, BCC, is the founder of Olver International and the creator of Mental Freedom®. She is an author, speaker, counselor, coach, and internationally recognized senior faculty member in Choice Theory® and Reality Therapy.
Kim helps individuals and professionals understand themselves and one another more deeply so they can create less unnecessary suffering, improve relationships, and respond to life with greater intention.
Her work emphasizes responsibility, connection, emotional freedom, and the practical application of ideas that help people create meaningful change without attempting to control others.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this workshop only for counselors or coaches?
No. The workshop is designed for a mixed professional audience. The principles apply anywhere one person is attempting to guide, teach, lead, supervise, support, or influence another.
Will this workshop teach me how to persuade people more effectively?
The purpose is not to make people comply. You will learn how to increase the quality and integrity of your influence while respecting another person’s responsibility for their choices and freedom to choose.
Does influence without control mean avoiding accountability?
No. You can remain clear about expectations, boundaries, standards, and consequences without attempting to control another person’s choices.
Will the workshop be interactive?
Yes. The session will include teaching, reflection, discussion, and practical application.
Come prepared with a real situation in which you are trying to influence, guide, support, supervise, or hold someone accountable. You will have opportunities to apply the principles to your own professional or personal context.
Will a recording be available?
Yes. A recording will be available to registered participants for 30 days following the live workshop. The recording is intended for the registered participant’s individual use and may not be shared, reproduced, or distributed.
Participants seeking continuing education credit must attend the live workshop in full and complete all required documentation. Watching the recording does not qualify for continuing education credit.
What is the cancellation and refund policy?
Registration fees are fully refundable when cancellation is requested at least seven days before the workshop.
Cancellations received fewer than seven days before the workshop are non-refundable. However, the registration fee may be transferred to another Olver International workshop of equal or lesser value when the transfer is requested before the workshop begins.
No refunds or transfers will be issued to participants who do not attend and do not provide advance notice.
If Olver International cancels or reschedules the workshop, participants may transfer their registration to the new date or receive a full refund.