Building more caring, resilient & successful teams, with Graeme Cowan (24 March 2022)

Graeme Cowan helps leaders and teams to be more caring and resilient and enjoy growing together. He is also a Board Director of R U OK? and helped Gavin Larkin to start it in 2009. In his earlier career he worked in senior leadership positions with Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, and the management consulting company, Kearney. In 2000 he went through a 5 year episode of depression that his psychiatrist described as the worst he had ever treated. He emerged from this crisis with a different view about how we can increase our resilience, mood, and performance. He is the author of 4 books, including the internationally acclaimed BACK FROM THE BRINK, which has a testimonial from the former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, and which has become a best seller in China. He is also the Co-Founder of FactorC, which creates scalable training to build mentally healthy workplaces.

Katherine Newton is the CEO of R U OK? – an organisation most well-known for R U OK?Day, a national day of action committed to encouraging and equipping everyone to regularly and meaningfully ask “are you ok?”, of anyone who might be struggling with life. Since the inaugural R U OK?Day in 2009, R U OK? has become a household name. In 2021 an estimated 86% of Australians are aware of R U OK? with one in three of those accessing R U OK? resources. To help make real, lasting change in Australia, R U OK? has broadened their reach beyond a national day of action. Campaigns such as R U OK? at Work and R U OK? at School are providing effective platforms to promote regular, meaningful conversations all year round. Katherine’s commitment to prevention efforts spans 8 years having trained as a volunteer Lifeline telephone counsellor prior to transitioning to the sector professionally. Katherine leads a small, responsive, and dynamic team and continues to be inspired by the those in the community who believe in peer-to-peer support.