Matthew Johnstone

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Keynote speaker on mental health & well being, life/work balance and mindfulness

Matthew Johnstone is an accomplished author whose speaking career began after the release of his second book, Living with a Black Dog, was published in 2005 by Pan MacMillan Australia. An illustrated guide to people living with people who have the 'Black Dog' of depression, it has since been published in over 20 countries.

Matthew has now given talks all over Australia and the UK to schools, community groups, corporations, hospitals and places of industry. Although this book deals with Matthew's battle in overcoming depression, his talks are an inspiring odyssey of hope, resilience, the path to happiness and what can be learnt from coming through adversity.

Matthew has many different talks for different needs and groups; he is just as happy talking to teenagers as he is to the Reserve Bank. There are no graphs or pie charts; his is purely a visual, inspiring and often humorous journey. He has also been the keynote speaker at various fundraiser events and workshops.

Matthew's audiences have included Port Waratah Coal Services, The Reserve Bank, Eli Lilly, Investec Bank, The Australian Young Lawyers Association, Broken Hill Writers Festival, The Black Dog Institute Gala Dinner, AGL, Cricket Australia and UNSW Alumni, amongst many others as well as The Royal Institute of the Arts, The Priory Hospital and Lifeline (London

Matthew's desire for those who hear him speak are to leave inspired to:

  • Communicate more openly and effectively both at home and work
  • Strive towards living more authentically
  • To be more mindful and present
  • To be inspired to create more purpose in their lives
  • To be motivated to work towards what makes them genuinely happy
  • That good can come from bad if we're open to learning from the experience

Matthew spent 15 years as an award-winning creative in advertising, working in Sydney, San Francisco and New York.  He is an author, illustrator and photographer and also creative director of The Black Dog Institute.

Matthew has written and illustrated several books, four of which have been best sellers in Australia and the UK. His third book, The Alphabet of the Human Heart -The illustrated A to Z on what it is to be human, made number 4 for UK book sales in January 2011 and went to #9 on the Sunday Times Bestseller List.

Client testimonials

The feedback from participants was overwhelmingly positive. Matthew’s presentation is personal, entertaining and informative and his presenting style is very inclusive, I would highly recommend his presentation to any organisation.

AGL

I have had ongoing feedback since your presentation from all sides of the office about both the standard of the presentation and the deep-reaching content. New faces of openness and freer spirits, new conversations with unpractised confidence in the workplace are a noticeable consequence of the detail and honesty of your research and experience.

Investec Conference organiser

Matthew was a hit. People listen to survivors. But Matthew’s presentation was more than a single survivor’s story — it was a guy’s story that had universality, told with humour and illustrated with fantastic graphics. Matthew’s presentation at our Seminar Series was the highlight of the programme, very well-rated on the evaluations … None of the written comments noted how funny his presentation was but that was what made it easy to listen to. The audience was often in whoops of laughter.

Blacktown City Mental Health

Having attended many staff development presentations over the last 15 years I would rate Matthew’s presentation as one of the most engaging and relevant presentations. Matthew is an engaging and charismatic presenter – deriving not only from his personality and experience in presenting but also from an evident passion to educate people on the topic mental illness and importantly to seek out early intervention.

The Scots College, Sydney

What is unique and stand out about the way Matthew presents is that the entire presentation is illustrated; the images are poignant, often funny but get to the core of what is being discussed. He enlightens and informs with creative visuals and inspiring metaphors. This is the 2nd time Alumni have had Matthew speak; he comes with our highest recommendation.

UNSW Foundation