Matthew Johnstone
Advocate for Mental Health and Wellbeing, Keynote Speaker
Matthew Johnstone is a best-selling author and an advocate for mental health awareness. Drawing on his own experiences with depression, he has developed successful creative educational programs on understanding mental health, and resilience for schools, communities, eHealth and the work place.
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Matthew Johnstone completed a diploma in Fine Arts but then changed course and went onto to have 15 successful years as a creative in advertising. He worked in Sydney, San Francisco and New York where he became a Creative Director. He worked for some of the world’s best agencies and won many industry awards.
Since then he has published a total of 9 books (including 1 lateral thinking book and 1 kids book) the other 7 are mental health and well-being books most of which have gone on to be best sellers locally and abroad.
Matthew’s company Drawn from Experience develops various creative, educational programs, illustrations and videos on understanding mental health, and resilience for schools, communities, eHealth and the work place.
Matthew spends much of his time in the professional orbit of the leaders in mental health and wellbeing arena such as the World Health Organisation, the Black Dog Institute, The Golden Door Elysia and Geelong Grammar to name a few.
He has also worked extensively with many major corporations. Matthew’s clients have included NRL, BHP, Commonwealth Bank, NIB, UNICEF, Queensland Police, 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 as well as The Royal Institute of the Arts, The Priory Hospital, The School of Life and Lifeline.
Matthew is a passionate public speaker who has delivered highly visual talks all over Australia, New Zealand, UAE, USA, Europe including Iceland.
In 2014 he was invited to give a keynote at the World Health Organisation in Geneva.
In 2018 he was a finalist in the Australia Mental Health Award.
Most recently he has turned his attention to developing a digital mental health and wellbeing platform called ‘Here’s a Thought’.
Matthew’s work has been endorsed by Stephen Fry, Edward de Bono and the World Health Organisation.
Matthew lives in Sydney with his wife, 2 daughters and dog Cookie.
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Matthew believes most mental illnesses, such as depression and anxiety, don’t need to happen. Good mental health is relevant to everyone everywhere and if we can spot the early warning signs, learn the skills on how to communicate effectively, find ways to seek help without fear or consequence and most importantly learn about resilience and how good can come from bad, then we’re half way there.
Matthew is as happy talking to teenagers as he is to the Reserve Bank. There are no graphs or pie charts; his is purely a visual and often humorous speaker who leaves audiences inspired to:
- Communicate more openly and effectively, both at home and work
- Strive towards living more authentically
- Be more mindful and present
- Be inspired to create more purpose in their lives
- Be motivated to work towards what makes them genuinely happy
- Understand that good can come from bad if we’re open to learning from the experience.
A selection of Matthew’s talks:
- TOUGH and UP – The Art of Building Resilience
- BEING MENTALLY HEALTHY – There is no health without mental health
- Exploring the M.A.P – DISCOVERING IDEAS AROUND MEANING, AUTHENTICITY AND PURPOSE
- STRESSED spelt backwards is DESSERTS – Some Sweet Ideas on How To Bring Some Calm into Your Life
- QUIET the MIND – If Your Soul Aches Take a Moment
- Capturing Mindfulness – GOING FROM NOWHERE TO NOW-HERE
- The ALPHABET of the HUMAN HEART – The A to Zen of Life
Also presents a new talk, ‘Lessons from My Father’, about understanding, recognising and dealing with trauma.
