Talks and testimonials
“Thank you so much Rachel for your truly insightful and amazing session – we are so grateful! You have shown our team some great strategies for improving their mental health and well-being that can be implemented immediately to help achieve greater happiness and all-round wellbeing without much effort. It is clear that simple changes can be hugely impactful. Thank you again.”
“Thank you for your thoughtful presentation, and thoughtful answers to the questions. Both were extremely well received, and your presence very much enriched the day for all in attendance.”
“Rachel has a fantastic understanding of what it is like to be going through a very challenging and difficult time and she’s not scared to step aside from words that are usually used and use words that are real and helpful. Rachel has both a sense of vulnerability and strength, and a deep humility. She’s a very good communicator and can help those listening and importantly, bring them hope.”
Rachel speaks at events for companies, schools and universities including:
I run talks for charities, companies, schools and universities, in which I share my experience of depression and recovery - and reveal the strategies in my own mental health toolkit.
Rachel has delivered her wellbeing talks for parents and teenagers in schools including St Paul’s Girls’ School, London and Wellington College, Berkshire as well as at universities including those of Cambridge, and Bath. She has been working with Dr Carla Croft, Consultant Clinical Psychologist at Barts Health NHS trust on her forthcoming book on adolescent mental health for the past five years, and is the mother of five grown up children herself.
Talk: Calm parents, Calmer Teenagers - Ways for parents to stay steady in an anxious age
Talk: Healing Words - Why literature can be healing and the best poems to keep you company through difficult times
Talk: How to Sing in the Rain – Revealing my toolbox of psychological and physical wellbeing strategies
Talk: Good Mood Food – Revealing how changing my diet changed my mental health - and can change yours
Calm parents, Calmer Teenagers: Ways for parents to stay steady in an anxious age
In this new talk aimed at parents of adolescents, Rachel shares strategies for parents who are worried about their children’s psychological health, be that concerns about phone use, bullying, drugs or relationships. This talk is based on Rachel’s forthcoming book on the subject The Gift of Teenagers: Life Lessons my Children Have Taught Me (and A Few I’ve Tried to Teach Them).
Healing Words – Why literature can be healing and the best poems to keep you company through difficult times
This is a one hour session, in which Rachel shares six or seven poems which help unlock feelings. Attendees are invited to read the poems, and then Rachel leads thoughts on the texts for discussion as a group. Often the words are a way to allow feelings to find expression, be they emotions around anger or joy.
Rachel has a long-standing interest in the therapeutic power of poetry. She runs Healing Words poetry workshops for mental health charities, at festivals and in prisons, and has been a judge for the Koestler Poetry Prize and the Rethink Mental Illness Poetry Awards. Her passion for poetry led to her becoming the co-founder of the iF poetry app and co-editor of iF: A Treasury of Poetry for Almost Every Possibility. Her memoir Black Rainbow: How words healed me – my journey through depression describes how poetry was an integral part of her recovery. Rachel’s latest book You'll Never Walk Alone: Poems for life's ups and downs is a collection of inspirational poems that can accompany us, whatever we are feeling, from sorrow to delight.
How to Sing in the Rain – Revealing my toolbox of psychological and physical wellbeing strategies
This interactive talk is about the physical and psychological strategies which can help us cope with challenges to our daily lives. Rachel recounts her own experience of depression, recovery, and what she has learnt about thriving through challenging times. She encourages the audience to build up their own toolbox of wellbeing strategies, and to sing in the rain: to find the positives, however negative life may seem at times. The talk is inspired by Rachel’s latest book Singing in the Rain: An inspirational workbook which is based on numerous psychological studies. A variation of this talk is focused at young professional in particular.
Good Mood Food – How changing my diet changed my mental health - and can change yours
Scientists are now discovering a proven link between what we eat and how we feel. This talk is based on Rachel's book The Happy Kitchen: Good Mood Food which contains the latest research and evidence on what to eat for optimum mental health and features recipes developed to boost your mood, keep you calm and help you sleep.
Talk Guidelines
Duration: One hour
Prices: Negotiable
Venue: Talks can be done online, though Rachel is happy to travel if travel expenses are reimbursed
Books: Copies can be provided
Testimonials
“Thank you so much for the event yesterday- I’m thrilled I had the opportunity to join this time! Thank you for sharing your story, but also so many useful tools and strategies to take away – we had lots of wonderful comments in the chat.”
“This was a really good talk and highlighted an important issue to many people. A very touching and powerful session.”
“Not just a powerful personal story but lots of practical advice too.”
“This was an excellent session and Rachel clearly has a very rich knowledge on the subject.”
“Another superb session at Wellington College Community Mental Health Day, with the brilliant Rachel Kelly, author of The Happy Kitchen. Such a powerful story and so many wonderful pieces of advice to improve our gut and mental health. Absolutely fascinating. Thank you, Rachel.”
“Great to take the time out of the working day for this session. Enjoyed the breathing exercises and different perspectives that Rachel gave. I’ll definitely take away a few key pieces of advice from the session.”
“The session was very helpful. Fast pace and full of ideas and clever thinking. Very timely. Very engaged, genuine and authentic presenter.”
“Very useful and enjoyable with a strong relevance. Nice to have short activities mixed in, suited to the topic.”
“Awesome session - will update my ingredient list. Very useful tools and interesting information about foods, your gut being a second brain and anti-inflammatory food.”
“I thoroughly enjoyed Rachel’s well-being talk on WriteWell. It was thought provoking and deeply meaningful. I could listen to Rachel for hours. She has a way of communicating the story of her life in a way that seems like my life and many others I’m sure. I felt connected to her story. I felt connected to her voice. Such beautiful wisdom wrapped up in a great big bow of knowledge.”
“All of it was great, I enjoyed the fact that it was solution based - small things that do not take much time that can be implemented into daily life. I also enjoyed the anonymity of the Q&A, hearing other colleagues concerns was something helpful to here - I feel less alone.”
“We felt Rachel was a great addition to the panel and came across as articulate and knowledgeable in the subject area. Thank you once again for participating in such an insightful and informative discussion.”
“Rachel ran a wellbeing for writers webinar today and it was wonderful. The feedback from our members has been without exception glowing. She was utterly professional, warm, honest and insightful. Mental health is a difficult topic for many to broach but she helped us to overcome some of the common misconceptions and fears, and in doing so facilitates open and important conversations.”
“Rachel was a brilliant panellist - extremely engaging and open, always ready with a considered and insightful point of view, made very relatable with the many relevant and inspiring personal stories she shared. She struck the perfect balance between discussing insights and evidence from the latest research in mental health and sharing practical tools and techniques. I would highly recommend Rachel as a hugely passionate, engaging and informed speaker on all aspects of mental health.”
“Rachel Kelly is a powerful yet empathetic speaker who talks with deep personal understanding and sympathy on the topic of mental health and how to improve it. A high quality writer and mental health authority, you will be amazed how much you can learn from her gentle wisdom.”
“Thank you so much for coming last night, you were fantastic! Our guests responded so well to you, your stories and your practical tools. I think you helped so many of our guests and members come out of their shells mental health wise. You’ve made a huge impact. You also spoke so dynamically and kept our audience completely engaged. Thank you”
“Our staff thoroughly enjoyed your session and learnt a lot. It was pitched exactly right - as you would expect. NICE staff are incredibly discerning, evidence-based people, and your links to research were just what they needed. On a personal (less scientific!) note, I loved the way you drew on poetry and literature too.”
“The whole workshop was well-presented and high level enough to be applicable to lots of people. It was so useful to think holistically about mental health; it’s not just to do with the mind, it’s the body too and what we eat.”
“I really liked Rachel’s authenticity and her personal story acts as a “wake up call” to question how we live our lives and what we can do to achieve more balance.”
“I truly appreciated hearing your experiences and learning about the techniques you have learnt and adapted to help with not just your own journey but that of others. I know that I was not alone and all the team who attended enjoyed the talk enormously as well. A big thank you!”
“Just to let you know how much I enjoyed your workshop. I spoke to the others, during and at the end and they were equally impressed. Seriously, I needed this talk. It has changed my outlook on cooking. Thank you for enlightening us. It was brilliant!”
“While Rachel was speaking I looked around the room and a vast range of people in the building had come. From suited lawyers, to business services people as well as Ryan from the post room. I haven’t seen our conference room that full for years! She delivered a difficult subject so naturally and did not scare us off with psychobabble.”
“The session was a great success.”