Mitch Wallis - Mindfulness & Mental Health - Global Mental Health Leader Transforming the Way t ...

Travels From New South Wales

Speaker Topics

AI's race with EQ

Why the future belongs to the emotionally regulated

AUDIENCE: AI & emerging-tech audiences

BEST SUITED FOR

AI conferences
Future-of-work summits
Product conferences
Executive forums on AI strategy

As AI accelerates decision-making and efficiency, one question becomes urgent: what happens to the human nervous system in a world that moves faster than it can regulate? Under pressure, the nervous system doesn't respond to logic; it responds to safety. Mitch reframes EQ as a stabilising force that protects clarity, creativity, and culture under load. This is not a rejection of AI. It is a recalibration.

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From individaul contributor to contributing to individuals

The 10-second Leadership Skill That Changes Everything

AUDIENCE: Leaders, People Managers & Team Supervisors

BEST SUITED FOR

Leadership conferences & offsites
L&D sessions
Pre-restructure leader equipping
Retention & engagement initiatives
Senior executive events

Most organisiations don't suffer from a lack of empathy, they suffer from a gap in connection capability. Leaders navigating complex teams have never been trained to handle high-stakes human moments. This keynote introduces a practical operating system for emotionally complex conversations, helping leaders respond with steadiness, clarity, and boundaries. The result: earlier intervention, reduced people risk, and leadership that strengthens trust at scale.

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Lonely no more

How to build belonging with quality conversations in a world of transactional exchanges

AUDIENCE: General

BEST SUITED FOR

Wellbeing & connection conferences
DEI forums
University & school wellbeing

Loneliness isn't a lack of contact - it's the experience of being unseen, unknown, or not understood. Modern systems optimise for speed over presence, creating a paradox: more contact, less connection. This keynote reframes belonging as a learnable capability, teaching how to shift from quantity of interaction to quality of understanding. The result: stronger engagement, healthier cultures, and people who feel truly met.

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Mental health at work

What's failing — and what comes next

AUDIENCE: CPO's, HR Directors, People & Culture, WHS, Risk, Execs

BEST SUITED FOR

Business & culture conferences
Risk & regulatory sessions
B2B educational series

Workplace mental health isn't deteriorating because organisations don't care — it's deteriorating because they're intervening at the wrong level. Psychological safety is being treated as a program rather than an operating condition. This keynote reframes mental health through risk and leadership capability lens, replacing common organisational errors with evidence-aligned behavioural standards. The shift: ffrom reactive support to preventative system design.

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My customer's incidental confidant

How to care without carrying what isn't yours

AUDIENCE: Customer-facing professionals & frontline workers

BEST SUITED FOR

Sales summits
High-emotional-load industries
Customer service training days
Vicarious-trauma prevention initiatives
Reward-based session

Many customer-facing professionals become 'incidental confidants' - exposed to emotional distress without training. Caught between over-involvement and uner-involvement, staff experience compassion fatigue while organisiations face inconsistent service and psychosocial risk. From hairdressers, to uber drivers, to insurance case managers, to junior lawyers... front-line staff take on the burden of their client's life. This keynote equips frontline teams to respond with empathy, clarity, and defined boundaries. The result: a workforce that feels purposeful rather than depleted.

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Real Conversations

5 steps to connect with confidence

AUDIENCE: Everyone

BEST SUITED FOR

Lunch-and-learn sessions
All-staff motivational events
Wellbeing & safety month seminars
Calendar moments (R U OK? Day, WMHD, ect.)

This is the hero keynote. The talk that works for any audience, any industry, any event. Real Conversations reveals why our instinct to fix, advise, and reassure fractures trust instead of building it. Grounded in embodied psychology, it teaches the 'technology' of connection: how to regualte before responding, sit in emotion without controlling it, and create moments of safety. A re-education in what it means to relate well.

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Staying regulated through rough seas

The Nervous System Playbook for Navigating Change

AUDIENCE: All Staff

BEST SUITED FOR

Restructure & uncertainty periods
High-deadline moments
Rapid growth phases
Wellbeing events

The real competitive advantage isn't itelligence - it's regulation. When uncertainty rises, most nervous systems don't get sharper; they get reactive. Drawing on nervous system science and lived experience with OCD, Mitch unpacks how to stay grounded when conditions are unstable. A practical framework for recognising dysregulation, stabilising under pressure, preventing burnout, and building sustainable resilience.

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The modern Principal's leadership blueprint

How to run a team, not just a school

AUDIENCE: School Principals (primary & high school)

BEST SUITED FOR

Flagship educational conferences
Professional learning days for school leadership

The biggest hidden risk in schools isn't workload, it's unstructured conversations under emotional pressure. Modern principals are regulators of increaingly charged environments where performance, parent expectation, and staff wellbeing collide daily. This keynote shows how leadership stability is built through structured engagement, nervous system regulation, and clean boundaries. Principals leave with a blueprint for reducing escalation without reducing standards.

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The regulated educator

How to Lead Classrooms Without Losing Yourself

AUDIENCE: Teahcers (primary & high school)

BEST SUITED FOR

Flagship educational conferences
Professional learning days for teachers

Modern teachers operate in high-volume emotional environments where authority alone isn't sufficient, yet emotional over-functioning leads to burnout. Classroom behaviour isoften a nervous system issue, not just a disipline issue. Mitch reframes teaching as regulated leadership under pressure, introducing a practical model for maintaining firm boundaries while reducing emotional charge. Educators leave with a behavioural lens that strengthens authority, reduces conflict, and portects sustainability.

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What to say when your mate isn't ok

How to help communicate when you don't know how to help

AUDIENCE: High school students (Year 9-12)

BEST SUITED FOR

School-wide wellbeing days
In-tact classroom sessions

Ask a room of teenagers if they're ever worried about a mate. Every hand goes up. Ask them if thye knew what to say. Every hand goes down.

This generation has more language for mental health than any before it, and less idea what to actually do with it. They've watched the awareness videos. They know "R U OK?" They've sat across from a friend who's struggling and felt completely useless. They're carrying things their parents would have never carried at 15; and they're carrying them mostly alone, mostly in the group chat, mostly at 11pm.

In this 60-minute talk, I teach high school students the practical skills for being a better friend when it actually counts.

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Mitch Wallis

Global Mental Health Leader Transforming the Way the World Feels

Mitch Wallis is one of the world’s leading voices on mental health, with a bold mission to "change the way the world feels". With over two decades of lived experience managing anxiety, depression, and OCD, accompanied by a Master’s in Clinical Psychology from Columbia University, Mitch blends deep personal insight with academic rigour to help individuals and organisations heal, connect, and thrive. His goal is to transform the lives of 1 billion people to be more mentally healthy.

After nearly seven successful years at Microsoft, Mitch walked away from corporate life to dedicate himself full-time to mental health education and advocacy. His work is anchored in three powerful pillars: Human Connection, Emotional Fortitude, and Mindful High Performance, with a recurring invitation to “go toward the pain” as a pathway to growth and authenticity.

Mitch is best known as the founder of ‘Heart On My Sleeve’, a global mental health movement that empowers people to drop the brave face and speak openly about how they feel. He’s also the creator of ‘Real Conversations’, a communication and culture-shifting program delivered to over 200,000 people, as well as ‘Real Mates’, a workplace peer-support network that trains accredited mental health mentors. Through these initiatives, Mitch is driving a global shift toward psychological safety and emotional wellbeing.

A captivating keynote speaker, Mitch has spoken to audiences of tens of thousands across four continents, including leadership teams at Amazon, Google, American Express, Salesforce, and KPMG. His presentations are not only heartfelt and highly engaging but rooted in evidence-based practices and proven psychological tools.

Mitch’s influence extends far beyond the stage. He has advised the United Nations on youth mental health, served as the first ambassador for the Australia & New Zealand Mental Health Association, and is currently an expert advisor to the Corporate Mental Health Alliance. He’s been recognised as a GQ Man of Impact, Westfield Local Hero, and one of B&T’s Top 10 Social Changemakers.

Mitch’s media presence includes features on Sky News, HuffPost, LinkedIn, and The Project, and his viral videos and podcast have reached millions, featuring guests from Harvard psychologists to Miss Universe and Olympic athletes. He is also accredited in Mental Health First Aid and is a trained Lifeline crisis supporter.

As a social entrepreneur, Mitch holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Sydney and is involved with multiple ventures, including ‘Calm Water’ (a stress-reducing supplement) and ‘Heaps Normal’ (Australia’s #1 non-alcoholic craft beer).

Mitch Wallis doesn’t just talk about mental health, he lives it. Through raw honesty, cutting-edge psychology, and practical tools, he invites audiences to reimagine what it means to be human.

Testimonial

"It’s authenticity. The story that Mitch tells, and the way he tells it, breaks through. We’ve been having this conversation about wellness for a long time, inside of Microsoft, and making progress. But there’s no question that when we introduced Mitch to the team and saw how he shared his personal story it resonated in a way we hadn’t been able to get through in the past"

Microsoft

"As we are discovering more about the importance of mental health in creating a safe work environment, it was suggested by one of our colleagues that we invite Mitch to speak to our organisation about his experiences. Mitch spoke with such openness about his journey with mental health that our colleagues were inspired to share their own stories and experiences. This lead to us implementing the Real Mates program, a source of peer support for our colleagues as we navigate our way through these challenging times of 2020. I’d like to thank Mitch for sharing his story with us, and I hope he has the chance to spark more positive change across other organisations as the awareness of mental health grows"

American Express

"Mitch’s keynote events and workshops are always delivered with great proficiency. Mitch is an extremely knowledgeable and engaging speaker in the mental health space who has the ability to capture the audience, across each level of the organisation, with real passion and authenticity. Each program Mitch has delivered across our organisation is met with positive feedback and we have our people continuing to ask for more"

KPMG

"It was really incredible having Mitch here telling his story. Because if we can't lead by example, we can't make it real. And to have someone be so vulnerable and so open, that was a gift to Everybody… and I think it's just inspired 14,000 people to wear their heart on their sleeve"

Salesforce ANZ & ASEAN