Dr Michael Carr-Gregg

Education Speaker Profile

Education Speaker Profile

Dr Michael Carr-Gregg is one of Australia's highest profile psychologists and sought-after education speakers. Educated in Kenya, the UK, Australia and New Zealand, he is married with two sons, and for seven years he worked as an Associate Professor in the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Melbourne, before going into private practice in the Melbourne suburb of Kew. He wrote his PhD on adolescents with cancer at the University of NSW which resulted in the formation of CanTeen - a support group for teenagers with cancer in 1984.

Michael is a founding member of the National Centre Against Bullying and for eight years has been the agony uncle for Australia's biggest selling magazine for young women, Girlfriend. He has a high media profile working on national TV on Channel 7's Sunrise and The Morning Show as well as Fairfax Radio 3AW.

Dr Michael Carr-Gregg has written eight books, including the best-selling Princess Bitchface Syndrome: How to survive teenage girls (Penguin, 2007) and his most recent, Surviving Year 12 (Penguin, 2012).

Michael has prepared workshops and talks for students, parents and teachers but, with much flexibility, can also cover a variety of other issues.

For teachers, he offers a crash course in positive psychology and speaks on dealing with psychological crises in schools, building resilient students, mental health issues for staff, bullying, screening for adolescents at risk, dealing with loss and grief in adolescents, and cybersafety. For parents, he speaks on general parenting, adolescent drug use, cybersafety, fathering and mental health, and he is hugely in demand for his presentations to students, particularly addressing coping with the final years of secondary school.

Client Comments

Client Comments

• An inspiring presentation; we had excellent feedback from conference participants.
  Department of Justice
• Michael was fantastic, he drew the audience in, using both his humour and exemplary knowledge. The pace of the presentation was fast which was well suited to the audience. We have received great feedback from the students and will be looking into booking him again next year.
  Sunbury College
• As usual Michael really spoke in manner suited to his audience, he always seems to have students eating out of his hand. They are still raising points that he made. A fabulous start to our year.
  Catholic Regional College Sydenham
• The 300+ audience were overwhelmingly positive!
  Mount View High School
• Michael presented an amazing professional development session for teaching staff in our network. The presentation was engaging, enlightening and informative, with humour mixed in. Comments from staff who attended included: 'This is the best PD I have been to in my 20 years of teaching' and 'An inspiring afternoon. Michael was very approachable, friendly and knew his topic.'
  Yarra Junction Primary School
• As always, the feedback from parents and students in attendance was overwhelmingly positive. Dr Carr-Gregg is both entertaining and informative, with the perfect mix of humour and knowledge.
  Girton Grammar School
• Michael was outstanding. He engaged staff with a terrific combination of knowledge matter and specific research on the subject/topics, combined with personal anecdotes from case studies and humour. An excellent presentation.
  All Saints Grammar
• Michael was very engaging and entertaining!
  North West Region Association of Business Managers
• Feedback from staff has been extremely positive and we've come away with new knowledge and some priorities that need to be addressed. Every session was engaging and entertaining - one comment from a principal was "Wouldn't we all just love to bottle Michael and keep him here for use on a regular basis with our students."
  Bundaberg State High School
• As always, Michael Carr-Gregg was an outstanding presenter. His research into each of the events we have had him for makes each of his presentations relevant to each client.
  Corporate Communique
• Fantastic feedback from the community. Michael answered questions with confidence and everyone appeared to leave satisfied. Michael is an extremely engaging presenter and has an amazing mix of research, facts and delivers his material with great humour!
  Melton Shire Council - Children Services
• Our hall was filled to capacity and Michael was very well received by the parents. He addressed our topic precisely and happily took questions. We have received many positive comments, both via email and in person, from members of our parent body.
  Chilwell Primary School
• Michael was very engaging. The audience has provided me with anecdotal comment that they really enjoyed what he presented and the manner in which he conducted his presentation. His mix of humour throughout was well received also.
  Department of Defence
• Excellent presentation style and very useful content. We received a lot of positive feedback verbally and via audience members' evaluations.
  CatholicCare
• Dr Michael was so knowledgeable and clearly an expert in his field; his speeches were impeccable and extremely well received by the community. We were thrilled that he was able to visit our community, and the information he delivered has already started to be implemented.
  Albury Wodonga Regional GP Network
• Dr Michael Carr-Gregg presented three outstanding seminars to our students, staff and parents. Dr Carr-Gregg was engaging, addressed relevant topics, and provided thought provoking content.
  Queenwood School
• I could not let another day pass, without writing to thank you for your very substantial and most significant input here at Prince Alfred College. Since your visit, I have been receiving multiple comments on a daily basis from appreciative parents, students and staff who feel they have grown and benefited from your input.
  Prince Alfred College
• Michael is an outstanding presenter and the content was very appropriate.
  Port Augusta Secondary School
• We have received extremely positive feedback about Michael's presentation. One of our questions on the evaluation form was "Highlights of the conference were" and most that answered that question have said Michael's presentation, it was excellent... informative and dynamic.
  The Children's Hospital Educ. Research Inst.
• Dr Carr-Gregg was very engaging and the audience enjoyed the presentation immensely. It was delivered with passion and purpose and it was obvious to all in attendance that he really cares about this topic and believes what he says.
  Girton Grammar School
• Dr Carr-Gregg was very engaging and the audience enjoyed the presentation immensely. It was delivered with passion and purpose and it was obvious to all in attendance that he really cares about this topic and believes what he says.
  Girton Grammar School
• Dr Michael Carr-Gregg was informative and very entertaining. He was thoroughly prepared for every session and his material was very up to date. We had great feedback from the teachers at the conference who found him very motivational. At the evening session, the parents were very reponsive and his books were in demand. Thanks to Michael, it was a very successful day!
  Payne Road State School
• Excellent. People were impressed by his current knowledge and practical suggestions.
  St Johns Park High School
• Accomplished presentation of advice with excellent theoretical and anecdotal support. Great engagement of audience through high energy level and passion, plus involvement of participants through an intriguing quiz.
  Stawell Secondary College
• Thank you Michael for throwing your whole self into the presentation to staff and parents. You have raised awareness and increased our confidence to manage the great challenges of growing up in the 21st Century.
  Kambrya College
• Students, parents and staff have made many positive comments as to Michael's presentations... we would like to consider getting Michael back again next year.
  St Catherine's Catholic College
• Thank you, I found Michael to be an excellent speaker and I have recommended Saxton to many other schools as a great source of quality speakers. We had over 400 people attend and all were very pleased.
  Mentone Grammar School
• Michael was amazing. He engaged and captivated the entire audience. The GPs have expressed interest in hearing more from Michael.
  AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals
• Dr Michael Carr-Gregg was informative, funny and engaging and feedback from delegates has been very positive.
  Creche and Kindergarten Association of Queensland
• Michael engaged the audience from the onset. His reputation had drawn the audience but it was his warm, openness that held them.
  City Of Melbourne - Childrens Services
• Michael is so engaging. Presentation style and content is excellent. Very parent friendly. Full of useful and usable info. Very funny. I am very happy with the event.
  City of Port Phillip
• Clearly well versed in his topic and great to have currency of research being presented in an understandable fashion. He listened carefully and understood my verbal briefing and related what he was saying excellently to the needs of the audience of parents and teachers.
  Castlemaine Steiner School and Kindergarten
• Michael was fantastic
  Bethany Catholic School, Werribee
• Michael was sensational - a very appropriate choice of speaker to the audience we had. So many positive comments on his presentation after the event. Compelling, captivating. Thank you.
  Arthur Reed Photos Pty Ltd
• Michael is a thought provoking speaker and who provided a wonderful start to our conference.
  Department of Education and Training
• Just a short note to thank you for your involvement in our YPO function last night. Your time and effort was invaluable to the overall success of the night. Our members rated the evening very highly; it was like a journey into another world... an unforgettable and touching event.
  Young Presidents Association
• Thank you at a personal level, and on behalf of all the partners for participating in the Family Conference. The feedback from the session was excellent. It not only met but went well beyond our expectations for the session.
  Mallesons Stephen Jacques Solicitors
• Michael was nothing short of brilliant! VYNE has maintained its reputation for offering quality speakers to the ACT community. Many people attending last Friday's presentation stated this to be one of the very best presentations, with the most engaging and informed speaker we've ever had.
  VYNE
• Each time we have used Michael he capture the audience. An excellent speaker.
  AMP GI Distribution
• Michael was outstanding, he engaged with the audience and addressed the relevant issues. Michael was very generous with his time.
  Hume City Council
• Michael was an outstanding guest on all levels. He was highly skilled with a large audience on difficult topics. His preparation was excellent. Great resourcing and a willingness to share ideas and information.
  It was an absolute pleasure to work with him.
  DECS
• Michael was engaging, accessible and highly professional as always. We have had immediate feedback from parents staff and students which is all positive.
  Wenona
• Michael presents what is relevant to our young people's lives, his breath and dept of knowledge is astounding. He welcomed and encouraged questions - and could answer each one thoroughly. His passion and concern is so obvious in the way he presents. Our parent, boys and staff loved him!
  Aquinas College
• An inspirational presentation!
  Teachers Professional Development Day
• A really valuable school presentation (first, to a large audience, then to a select small group of (high-level) International Baccalaureate students). Michael's authoritative, challenging and entertaining presentations had our students really talking afterwards. He was a great hit.
  Carey Baptist Grammar School
• Michael facilitated his sessions with style, humour and credibility. His information is current, tailored to the audience and interesting. The Feedback from the participants was very positive.
  Catholic Education Office
• Michael is always terrific, whether his audience is student, teachers or parents. All groups are always engaged and leave empowered by his messages.
  Canberra Girls' Grammar
• Dr Carr-Gregg was highly entertaining, engaging and knowledgable. He captivated the audience and presented relevant, meaningful and current information.
  Mitchelton State School
• Very informative, humorous, engaging and informed. Michael was easy to work with on the day and responsive to all audience members.
  Ridges Principals Cluster
• As usual, Michael Carr-Gregg was outstanding. He has the wonderful gift of being able to communicate to his audience with humour, compassion, relevant knowledge and practical strategies.
  Pennant Hills High School
• Michael Carr-Gregg would have to be rated as a top speaker definately E We have had many positive comments from the general public who attended as well as service providers, also asking for us to get him back next year and for longer. (hopefully the Spring or Autum so the plane can land) Michael was a pleasure to host.
  CAMHS (Child & Adolescent Mental Health)
• Michael Carr-Gregg was outstanding! Keeping the attention of 16 and 17 year old boys can be hard but he has a gift which keeps them spellbound. He entertains and informs adults and teens alike, leaving them talking, discussing and thinking, all of which leads to an increase in and hopefully improvement in all levels of communication. Wesley was positively buzzing after Michael's visit and children and parents have been recounting his anecdotes and comments.
  Wesley College
• Michael Carr Gregg was outstanding - beyond the excellent scale. He was informative, entertaining and really hit home with what he had to say. Teachers on my staff talked about the session for days afterwards. We look forward to him coming back in October!
  Wellers Hill state School
• The response to the presentations was overwhelming. Almost every staff member said to me that it was the best professional development they had ever attended. This included staff members that have been teaching for 20 years or more.
  The staff has also already been asking for Michael to come back next year. I can honestly say that Brisbane State High School has been influenced by Michael and now is a better and more educated place because of your time and expertise.
  Brisbane State High School
• Michael was outstanding and possibly the best presenter we have had for a number of years.
  Marist College, Ashgrove
• A down to earth presentation, which involved both parents and students. Nice use of humour and it was lovely to share a meal.
  Thomas Carr College
• We are in awe of this man. He directed his talk to both staff and students appropriately. The talk has only just finished and I have been inundated with positive feedback. We left the auditorium feeling buoyant and positive and I believe both staff and students were able to take something away from it. Dr Michael Carr-Gregg was aware of our days' activities and was kind enough to tailor his talk so that the days agenda flowed from one event to the other. Dr Carr-Greggs presentation was the last for the day and it was the perfect sum up.
  Kangan Batman TAFE
• Dr Carr-Gregg was interesting, engaging, well organised and very approachable. We conducted an evaluation with participants at both of our sessions and it was overwhelmingly positive.
  
  Fleurieu Families - Alexandrina Council
• Extremely engaging, relaxed and easy to listen to.
  Camden Community of Schools
• He kept to the time limit & presented with appropriate language for each group.
  St Peters Girls
• The students thought he was great, the parents thought he was great and the teachers thought he was great!!
  UnitingCare Burnside Reconnect
• Michael presented 3 sessions on the need to re-configure homework. The first 2 sessions were excellent the last session was not as pertinent but still very amusing and entertaining.
  St Peter's School
• Dr Michael Carr-Gregg was excellent, the comments made by students were very positive especially about his use of humour and his easy going nature - they did not feel preached at. They said the content was great and the length and style well suited to the audience.
  Bendigo Senior Secondary College
• Please pass on my appreciation to Michael. I have received a number of positive comments from parents and students.
  Box Hill Senior Secondary College
• Michael is a wonderful charismatic speaker who has the wonderful ability to relate with the audience, in a language that is clear, concise, appropriate in timbre and wonderfully supports his points with facts. His message is well supported by the visual.
  
  We had three sessions, Year 11 (200), Staff (50) and Parents (400+). The boys disrupted teachers of their next lessons with comments and observations (all positive) on Michael's earlier presentation. 40+ went home and insisted parents came to the evening
  Sydney Church of England Grammar School
• Michael is an excellent speaker, always well informed, well prepared and captures the audiences attention. He was the highlight of the event for many of our guests.
  TAFE Development Centre
• Michael 's presentation is just outstanding. He engages his audience immediately and keeps them captivated throughout his talk. He provides the audience with many useful tips for studying, coping with stress and balancing work and social activities. Michael left our students feeling motivated and encouraged to do their best and parents keen to be supportive.
  Pennant Hills High School
• Dr Michael Carr-Gregg demonstrated a high level of skill in engaging parents and providing them with key messages about parenting their adolescent children. Michael empowered parents to take an active role in their children's lives by strongly recommending that parents do this even if their children protested. Finally Michael was also very professional in his conduct with staff that attended the seminars. It was noted that Michael took time to support the initiatives of Shire of Melton Youth Services and
  Melton Shire Council
• Feedback from the students and parents who attended the session was without exception extremely positive. In both oral and written evaluations Dr Carr Gregg was described as outstanding, providing sensible and useful information, his manner was full of warmth and passion, and his content addressed a lot of the issues and areas of tension between teenagers and parents in a very constructive and affirming way.
  Inner Melbourne VET Cluster
• An excellent and engaging speaker.
  Caulfield Grammar School
• Both sessions were very informative and entertaining and were good matches to what we had requested.
  UnitingCare Burnside Reconnect
• Thank you so much for making last Wednesday's Breakfast function so successful. The feedback has been excellent. Your message comes across in an entertaining and powerful way. On a topic so close to most of us we all went away with fresh hope and renewed faith.
  Coaching Connections
• As always, very entertaining with useful information provided. References made by speaker on where to look for further information on the topic.
  Warringah Council YouthLinx
• A very engaging, pratical and honest presentation - loved it and totally inspired now. Took plenty of notes and will share this information with friends, family and colleagues.
  Nursing and Midwifery Conference
• Michael addressed all areas as requested providing up to date practical information for parents to use at home and for teachers to apply in classroom and school context.
  Port Lincoln Primary School
• We were very happy with the presentation given by Dr Michael Carr-Gregg and the feedback from staff, students and parents was positive... Dr Carr-Gregg's presentation was high impact and carried the points he wanted to get across very well.
  Girton Grammar School
• Reports back from parents, agency workers, council directors, CEO and councillors - what an outstanding evening! Nothing but positives.
  Mornington Peninsula Shire Youth Services
• Superb, Engaging, Inciteful, Provoking, Relevant and Stimulating. Michael was easy to work with and was responsive to our needs.
  Bay State Schools
• Michael was well prepared, knew his audience, knew his stuff, up to date and connected very well with the audience. His presentation skills are excellent - good meaty information but humour thrown in appropriately. Good support resources on his power point. We have not collated the evaluation sheets but anecdotally he was very well received indeed.
  Home Economics Institute of Australia
• Michael was very generous with his time and was able to tailor his presentation to our particular needs. He certainly lived up to his reputation as an expert in his field and as an engaging speaker.
  Kyabram Community & Learning Centre Inc.
• His expert knowledge, both current and wideranging, accompanied by his articulate and personable delivery style, backed up by high impact slides put his presentation in the exceptional class. Michael is not well known to NZ audiences so we had to canvas support for the evening and the 200 who attended would come again tomorrow with their friends if Michael was available.
  Saint Kentigern School
• Michael is an engaging and dynamic speaker who has a great rapport with all ages.
  Santa Maria College (WA)
• Michael is always excellent and the session was... jam packed with information.
  Kinross Wolaroi School
• Outstanding knowledge of the subject and kept the audience totally engaged for two hours after lunch, never an easy task.
  Bayswater North Primary School
• Michael Carr-Gregg speaks to a subject that affects all parents sooner or later - adolescence. He is obviously well experienced and knowledgeable in the subject, but more than that he brings the subject alive and makes it a memorable event. An essential experience for any parent entering the dark-tunnel of parenting adolescent children.
  
  Canberra Girls Grammar School
• His delivery was passionate and witty. His message was tailored to his audience (government school principals (secondary and primary)) and was extremely thought provoking. He provided us with many practical ideas that we can implement immediately to address some of the psychological issues facing our students.
  
  Birrong Girls High School
• The response to Dr. Michael Carr-Gregg's talk was fantastic. The students felt he was the best speaker of the Conference. Many students commented that they learned a lot about the importance of sleep and regular locations and timing of studying
  Tintern Girls Grammar School (GGS)
• Michael was enthusiastic about the whole project; meeting with the staff, students and parents, prior to the presentation. This has made a lasting impression on all those involved.
  
  St John's College
• Michael is an excellent communicator who knows his subject very well. His presentation was very easy to understand and we had fabulous feedback from our participants.
  City of Casey
• Michael was extremely engaging and very informative and practical. Our parents went away with lots of very practical strategies to implement
  Apollo Parkways Primary School
• Michael was simply excellent - very helpful, personable, organized and
  Ringwood Church of Christ
• Michael was extremely interesting and engaging for all audiences, whose verbal feedback was extremely positive. He was very personable and fulfilled any requests asked.
  Beerwah State High School
• Michael is an excellent presenter. Impactful, humourous, very professional and easy to work with. Our capacity crowd made up of parents, teachers, social workers, pastors and general community members was kept captivated by the information presented on "The Princess Bitchface Syndrome." Thank you for an outstanding evening.
  Salvation Army
• Michael was exceptionally professional and the feedback we had from attendees on his presentation was fantastic.
  City Of Melbourne - Childrens Services

Topics

Speaker Topics

• The Parenting Adolescents Quiz
• Princess Bitchface Syndrome
• The Ten Most Important Things you Should Tell your Children to Build Resilience and Happiness
• Real Wired Child: What Kids are Doing Online and How to Keep Them Safe
• The Five Greatest Challenges for Parents in 2012
• Demystifying Adolescents
• Mental Health Issues for Young People (for parents)
• Coping with the VCE/HSC/IB/SACE/WACE Years (for parents)
• Coping with Alcohol, Tobacco and other Drugs (for parents)
• Mental Health Issues for Young people (for teaching staff)
• Mental Health Issues for Staff
• Boys Issue
• Cybersafety
• Coping with Alcohol, Tobacco and other Drugs (for teaching staff)
• Hypotheticals
• Interractive Quizes
• Screening for the Adolescent at Risk
• Dealing with Loss and Grief in Adolescents
• Coping with the VCE/HSC/SACE/WACE/ IB Years (for students)

Topic Synopses

For Parents (time: 1.5 hours)

The Parenting Adolescents Quiz
An entertaining and informative session, where Michael engages the participants in an informative and entertaining series of sessions on what parents need to know about the latest developments in adolescent psychology.

Princess Bitchface Syndrome
What every parent needs to know about parenting teenage girls, based on Michael's bestselling book published by Penguin.

The Ten Most Important Things you Should Tell your Children to Build Resilience and Happiness
The latest news from the science of positive psychology applied to bringing up children and teenagers.

Real Wired Child: What Kids are Doing Online and How to Keep Them Safe
A summary of what the latest research says kids are doing online and how to keep them safe. Includes everything parents need to know about social networking sites, cyberbullying, internet addiction, filtering software and online games.

The Five Greatest Challenges for Parents in 2012
What every parent needs to know about millennial parenting, covering alcohol, online safety, sleep and other key issues.

Demystifying Adolescents
A crash course in the developmental psychology of adolescents - how to understand and communicate effectively with young people.

Mental Health Issues for Young People
What parents need to know about depression, suicide, eating disorders, deliberate self-harm and other mental health problems in young people.

Coping with the VCE/HSC/IB/SACE/WACE Years
A night for parents and students to prepare them for the VCE/HSC/IB years with practical tips and strategies from the applied psychological research, for both student and parents designed to reduce stress and increase productivity.

Coping with Alcohol, Tobacco and other Drugs
What parents need to know about contemporary adolescent drug use and their role in reducing the harms from alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. Contains the latest research and statistics on teenage drug use.

Mental Health Issues for Young people
What teaching staff need to know about mental health problems in schools. Including practical strategies on how to recognise depression. There is a major emphasis on the role of depression in youth suicide, eating disorders, deliberate self-harm and other mental health problems in young people. Strategies for schools to enhance the mental health of students - How schools can work together with parents and the community to develop resilience-promoting structures and process in secondary schools. A very practical session with concrete suggestions for involving staff, students and parents.

Mental Health Issues for Staff
Never has teaching been such a stressful profession. This talk covers the major stressors, signs of burnout, stress management techniques and concrete strategies to improve individual staff member's coping strategies, including advice on how to sleep better.

Boys Issue
Looking at the evidence which confronts us of so many young men suiciding, being suspended from school, in trouble on the streets and struggling to achieve at school, any sensible person would have to conclude that young males are in considerable difficulties. Not all young men, but sufficient young men to cause concern. The puzzle for future generations will be why it took governments so long to act. This workshop examines the nature and extent of the problem and looks at what the latest research is saying schools and parents might do to help.

Cybersafety
Outlines the nature and extent of the problem, the latest research and practical strategies to deal with problematic behaviours online and mobiles. A large section deals with what schools can do to keep the community safe and reduce the risk of litigation.

Coping with Alcohol, Tobacco and other Drugs
What schools need to know about contemporary adolescent drug use and their role in reducing the harms from alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. Contains the latest research and statistics on teenage drug use.

Hypotheticals
For conferences and training days, an entertaining and informative addition to a staff-training day or conference. An opportunity to examine some of the ethical, moral and legal dilemmas in working with young people. These can be customised to particular issues (e.g. mental health, drugs, bullying) and year level if required.

Interractive Quizes
For conferences and training days, an entertaining and informative addition to a staff-training day or conference, where Michael engages the participants in an informative and entertaining series of sessions on what workers with young people need to know about the latest developments in adolescent psychology.

For Student Welfare Staff (time: 1.5 hours)

Screening for the Adolescent at Risk
Practical, no-nonsense strategies for welfare staff, year level co-ordinators, house masters, school chaplains and other welfare staff.

Dealing with Loss and Grief in Adolescents
How to recognise and manage the young person coping with loss.

For Students (time: 45 minutes + 15 minutes for questions)

Coping with the VCE/HSC/SACE/WACE/ IB Years
A session for students to prepare them for the VCE/HSC/IB/WACE/SACE years with practical tips and strategies to reduce stress and increase productivity.

Videos

Videos