While we cannot control our life circumstances, we can control our responses.
What does it really mean to be resilient? Are some people born with a resilience gene or can it be taught? Can resilience truly help put us back in the driver's seat of life? If so, how? These are some of the questions that Global Authority on Resilience Dr Lucy Hone addressed last year, with 30,000 people globally, in keynotes and training sessions focused on creating Realistic Resilience Practices that work.
A renowned global expert on resilience, the Director of the New Zealand Institute of Wellbeing & Resilience, and blogger for Psychology Today, Lucy offers a one-of-kind perspective - sharpened through academia but also deeply personally applied in response to a devastating tragedy. Her focus on helping people and organisations create practical resilience strategies is a call to action in light of many feeling resilience fatigues.
Lucy's mission to translate the best of resilience psychology for everyday practice inspired her to create a keynote entitled, Three Secrets of Resilient People, which became one of the most-watched TED talks during the pandemic, with over 9 million views and has been translated into 15 languages.
Known as a respected change agent on this timely topic, Lucy is also an award-winning ˜pracademic with a Masters's degree in resilience psychology from the University of Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. in wellbeing science/public health from AUT University in Auckland.
Her ground-breaking research is published in leading peer-reviewed international journals and frequently cited by others. She now assists various organizations ranging from Fortune 500s, government agencies and law firms to community groups and schools to design and implement wellbeing and resilience initiatives, re-shaping how resilience is viewed and creating sustained and meaningful change.
Describing her role as a pracademic, Lucy explains, too many resilience researchers don't know how to communicate their studies, and too many presenters don't really understand the science's nuances and theories underpinning it. I love being a pracademic who truly gets the evidence, but also relishes the challenge of presenting it to people to improve their everyday lives.
A Bestselling Author, Lucy's books include Resilient Grieving, which details how she coped with her own unimaginable personal loss, and her latest book, The Educators Guide to Whole-School Wellbeing, which addresses challenges faced by schools wanting to improve wellbeing in their school communities.
She is also regularly featured in the global media including The Guardian, The Washington Post and the BBC.
Dr Lucy Hone's goal is to help anyone struggling through change, uncertainty, or loss re-learn how to live in the world around them. In this day and age, everyone needs skills to be resilient. Lucy has helped millions of people realise that an energised, meaningful, joy-filled life is attainable no matter the challenge that lies in front of you.
Talking Points
Coping with Loss: Actionable tools for helping yourself and others navigate tough times
While adversity doesn't discriminate and all of us, at times, are forced to endure losses of one kind of another, we often feel helpless in the face of loss. What can we do to help? What kind of help is actually helpful? What should we say, what do we avoid? Coping with Loss: Actionable tools for helping yourself and others navigate tough times
When the worst happened to Dr Lucy Hone, she turned her years of resilience research and training to discover what helps us navigate our darkest days. Known for her best-selling book, Resilient Grieving, and her hugely popular TED talk, 3 Secrets of Resilient People, Lucy shares her hard-won lessons for tough times. While her presentation cuts to the heart of what it is to be human, she is masterful in keeping the messaging hopeful and sharing learnable, actionable tools.
Resilience: How can we promote it in ourselves and others? Lessons from research & life
If you've ever wondered what the word resilience really means, or how you can help yourself and your teams cope with constant challenge and change, then this session is for you. While there are many resilience researchers in the world, the death of her 12-year-old daughter in a tragic road accident makes Dr Lucy Hone's skillset quite unique. Resilience: How can we promote it in ourselves and others? Lessons from research & life
Co-director of the New Zealand Institute of Wellbeing & Resilience and adjunct senior fellow at the University of Canterbury, Lucy speaks at global conferences, creates online courses, and writes books, academic articles and blogs to spread her insights far and wide. Her PhD was acknowledged internationally for its outstanding contribution to wellbeing science and her research is published in leading psychology journals. Her best-selling book, Resilient Grieving, and her hugely popular TED talk, Three Secrets of Resilient People (over 2.6 million views) have delivered Dr Hone's refreshing approach to global audiences. Her work has been featured in international media including the Guardian and the Washington Post, the BBC and ABC, Channel News Asia, Swedish Television, The Bolt Report Australia and TVNZ.
Lucy's engaging style, and deep knowledge of these topics, makes her one of the world's foremost presenters on resilience. However, it is her self-effacing humour and the way she manages to relate academic findings to her own life (and yours!) that make her sessions so useful and enjoyable.
Maintaining High Performance in the Age of Burnout
In an increasingly turbulent world, the fact that some people cope better with stress, challenge and change, has become readily apparent. Acknowledging that this year is going to continue to test us, this Keynote address shares the secrets to sustainable high performance, de-mystifying burnout, and providing practical strategies to keep it at bay.
Maintaining High Performance in the Age of Burnout
The Secrets of Resilient People
Dr Lucy Hone is a globally respected resilience academic who thought she found her calling supporting people to recover following the Christchurch earthquake. She had no idea that her personal journey was about to take her to a far darker place. In this powerful and courageous talk, she shares the three strategies that got her through unimaginable tragedy and offers profound insights on how we can help ourselves and others cope in this era of uncertainty and change.
The Secrets of Resilient People
Unlock Your Teams’ True Potential: practical tools to help your teams grow navigate challenge & change
If your teams are feeling overwhelmed by the constant demands of on-going challenge and uncertainty, it’s time to unlock their true potential by learning the fundamental skills of resilient mindsets. Unlock Your Teams’ True Potential: practical tools to help your teams grow navigate challenge & change
Regarded as a thought leader in the field of resilience psychology, and respected internationally for her ground-breaking research, Dr Lucy knows how to cope with adversity like no other, having been forced to live through the loss of her 12 year old daughter in a tragic road accident.
“Losing Abi taught me so much more about resilience than I’d ever learn from academic study alone, putting everything I knew to the test. It also revealed the incredible power of adopting a resilient mindset. The evidence is clear, we cannot control the circumstances of our lives, yet we can control our response. Any team that focuses on what they can change - instead of what they can’t - can avoid limiting Thinking Traps, knows how to harness the power of ‘realistic optimism’, and builds psychological safety together possesses a massive competitive advantage.”
Co-director at the New Zealand Institute of Wellbeing & Resilience, adjunct senior professor at the University of Canterbury, an internationally sought-after professional speaker, best-selling author, and award-winning ‘pracademic’, Dr Lucy’s TED talk became world-renowned going viral during Covid, making it one of the Top 20 TED talks of 2020.
She now works with world-leading brands including Fortune 500 companies, government departments and global agencies, while her work is regularly featured in global media, including the Guardian, the Washington Post, the BBC, CBS , and ABC.
Every team needs to master the skills to navigate adversity and change in the current climate. Lucy has helped millions of people learn how to effectively focus their resources enabling them to thrive through adversity, move forward, and live meaningful, highly productive lives no matter the challenges ahead.
Four Essential Practices for Keeping Burnout at Bay
Burnout is a frequently used, but much misunderstood concept. All too often the focus is placed soley on greater self-care, but the truth is burnout is a workplace syndrome, so the solutions lie in taking action at work, not waiting for the weekends. Four Essential Practices for Keeping Burnout at Bay
In this hugely engaging presentation, Dr Lucy Hone busts three common myths regarding burnout and shares the Four Essential Practices to Keeping Burnout at Bay.
You’ll discover Thinking Traps that hold staff back, evidence-based tools to enhance productivity and encourage solution focused thinking, and be captivated by the secrets of high performing teams. Unleash your teams’ true potential and level up their performance by demystifying burnout.
A respected global thought leader, Dr Lucy offers a one-of-kind perspective, sharpened through academia and tested by extreme personal adversity. Part motivational speaker, part “pracademic”, she is a beautiful story teller, but audiences love her for her practical tips they can put to use at work immediately, leaving them better equipped to thrive in high pressure environments, despite challenge and change.
Stop, Pause, Go! The Traffic Light Model to Decode & Overcome Your Stress (that you can use immediately!)
Ever wondered why some people handle challenge and change so much better than others? Why some individuals flourish in high stress environments, while others fail to show up or blow up?! Stop, Pause, Go! The Traffic Light Model to Decode & Overcome Your Stress (that you can use immediately!)
Dr LH has been studying how individuals respond to stress, challenge and change for over a decade. A “pracademic” - known for her unique ability to share scientific insights in relatable, memorable ways - she will walk your audience through her tried and tested Traffic Light Model for Decoding and Overcoming Stress.
Proven to elevate performance by building self awareness, this highly practical session will train your audience to:
? STOP & notice your stress (identifying personal symptoms and triggers)
? PAUSE to evaluate the cause
(training people to spot/avoid Thinking Traps known to amplify stress)
✅ GO immediately reduce the negative impact of stress by implementing your personal Burn It Off/Tune It Out plan.
“Decode Your Stress gives each and every participant a one off opportunity to create their custom tailored solutions so they can power up in stressful times and unleash their true potential” says the founder of the Institute of Wellbeing & Resilience.
Hard Truths
In today’s uncertain world, trust and team connection have never been more essential—or more difficult to maintain. In Hard Truths, Dr Lucy Hone offers a powerful, honest, and deeply moving session that shows how vulnerability can be a strength, not a weakness.Hard Truths
Through a compelling blend of personal storytelling and science-backed strategies, Lucy empowers leaders and teams to create environments of psychological safety and belonging. She challenges the myth of perfection and reveals how embracing our full, messy human experience can unlock greater connection, resilience, and performance at work.
Attendees will walk away with:
A fresh perspective on the value of being #RealNotPerfect
Practical tools to build psychological safety
Insights into how acknowledging personal life experiences can strengthen teams
Described as “the most impactful session we’ve had at the firm,” Hard Truths is ideal for organisations wanting to boost motivation, authenticity, and trust—especially in challenging times.
Video
The three secrets of resilient people | Lucy Hone | TEDxChristchurch
Dr Lucy Hone is a resilience expert who thought she found her calling supporting people to recover following the Christchurch earthquake. She had no idea that her personal journey was about to take her to a far darker place. In this powerful and courageous talk, she shares the three strategies that got her through an unimaginable tragedy?and offers a profound insight on human suffering. Dr Lucy Hone is a director of the New Zealand Institute of Wellbeing & Resilience, a research associate at AUT University, a published academic researcher, best-selling author and contributor to Psychology Today, the Sunday Star Times and Next magazine. She trained at the University of Pennsylvania and got her PhD in public health at AUT University in Auckland. She has helped a range of organisationsfrom primary schools to leading law firmsto design and implement wellbeing initiatives creating sustained and meaningful change. Five years ago, the sudden death of Lucy's 12-year-old daughter Abi forced Lucy to turn her academic training and professional practice to foster resilience in very personal circumstances. The blog she wrote in the aftermath of Abi's death attracted international attention and resulted in the best-selling non-fiction title, What Abi Taught Us, Strategies for Resilient Grieving (Allen & Unwin, 2016), now available as Resilient Grieving in the US, UK and NZ.Dr Lucy Hone | Is it helping or harming? | Saxton Live powered by Delegate Connect
Dr Lucy Hone is an Adjunct Senior Professor at the University of Canterbury, a co-director of the New Zealand Institute of Wellbeing & Resilience, a published academic researcher and best-selling author and blogger for Psychology Today.Dr Lucy Hone | Ordinary Magic | Saxton Live Powered by Delegate Connect
Dr Lucy Hone is an Adjunct Senior Professor at the University of Canterbury, a co-director of the New Zealand Institute of Wellbeing & Resilience, a published academic researcher and best-selling author and blogger for Psychology Today.Audio
Thank you for sharing this conversation with me today. I feel as though I benefited greatly from having had the opportunity to speak with you firsthand, and suspect that many of those in the ... keep reading San Diego State University
Probably the most beneficial talk I have ever listened to. Fantastic speaker. Inspirational. Excellent presentation and useful strategies. The most relevant information for me at this conference.
We were incredibly excited to have Dr. Lucy Hone zoom in to chat with us as part of our Mental Wellbeing Month activations this October. and wow - she didn't disappoint! It was one of the most impactful firesides/chats we have ever put on (and we do quite a lot here at Canva!). Dr. Hone's research around resilience absolutely resonated with our team and her actionable steps were bang on. Would definitely recommend!
On behalf of the Finance Commercialization Event planning team thank you very much for your engagement on our Global Finance Meeting and for contributing to the success of our meeting. Your presentation was tailored to our needs, you showed a lot of flexibility and consideration to our needs and we have received very nice feedback. Many thanks for the materials you sent us to support your presentation and workshop.
Dr Lucy was a highlight of our Conference this year, just as she was at our Leadership Forum in 2021. Her delivery in not only professional and relevant, she provides practical advice that anyone can utilise, just sensational.
Dr Lucy Hone is both an engaging and insightful speaker. Not only did our conference delegates really enjoy her presentation, Q&A session and subsequent panel, she was great for us to work with as organisers.
I have seen lots of different speakers talk about resilience and Dr Lucy is one of the best. She makes the content relatable and accessible.
Lucy was a fantastic speaker who effortlessly wove her personal experiences in to her keynote to help empower and inspire our audience. She was incredibly personable and motivational while acknowledging the unique barriers of our audience in the ECE sector.
Lucy is clearly very accomplished in her field but makes her work accessible and applicable for the audience. Lucy blended her personal story and practical tips into an insightful and relevant presentation that held everyone's attention.
We invited Lucy to speak to our Senior Leaders and also complete a workshop with them to give them tangible tools to use for themselves and within their teams. Our audience was very engaged and appreciated the tools given to enable them to lead resilient teams within our business.
Lucy was determined to make the events she did for us relevant and with an element of local. It wasn't about her, it was about the audience. Spot on.
Lucy was fantastic! She worked with us very collaboratively to tailor her session to our business. The feedback received was incredible.
I adore listening to Dr Lucy Hone, I couldn't take notes fast enough. In this modern world where our daily headspace can be our biggest enemy, her strategies for coping and silencing your inner critic are just fabulous. I plan to share her tips with my family and I hope our workplace gets her in for a session asap.
Lucy’s delivery was top notch, casual yet captivating. I cannot begin to say how amazing and engaging Lucy’s presentation was. I enjoyed every bit of it and would recommend Lucy to any group!
Dr Lucy was really personable and was able to tell her story and her lessons in simple terms which can be adapted to everyday life. Her session was relevant to each of us in the room and I'm sure people took home a few 'a-ha moments'.
