Vanessa is a leading expert in the practical application of positive psychology and the science of wellbeing and resilience. She is one of a small group people in the UK to have completed a Masters degree in Applied Positive Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania with founder of the field Dr. Martin Seligman and many of the other leaders in this field, including: Adam Grant, David Cooperrider, Chris Peterson, Barbara Fredrickson, Ed Diener, Mihalyi Csikzentmihalyi, Felicia Huppert, Karen Reivich, Ryan Niemiec and Angela Duckworth. Vanessa is trained as a facilitator on the University of Pennsylvania’s Master Resilience Training programme for the US Army, aimed at fostering a culture of greater emotional and social wellbeing.
Vanessa is a Board member of Action for Happiness (AfH), the leading UK-based not-for-profit founded by Professor, Lord Richard Layard that focuses on proactively building skills for psychological wellbeing and resilience. As Head of Psychology and Workplaces she leads the translation of psychological research into practical action for individuals, communities, in health and education contexts and its consulting to organisations.
She is the architect of AfH’s 10 keys for Happier Living and author of the book of the same name. This framework has engaged and inspired millions of people around the world to take action for themselves and others and have been used in a wide variety of ways, including in communities, medical settings, workplaces and in school curricula.
Books
She has written three books so far and hopes to write more!
- 10 Keys to Happier Living (Headline, UK 2016, US 2018) - This is an accessible, easy to read and use guide for adult. The actions the latest scientific research shows we can take to increase how happy we feel and to build and maintain our wellbeing and resilience. Why these things matter and what we can practically do for ourselves and for others.
- 50 Ways to Feel Happy (Quarto, UK, US & Australia, March 2018) - Based on the evidence based 10 Keys, this is an engaging and colourful book for children aged 7 - 11years. Backed full of fun facts and activities to try.
- She is co-author of Creating The World We Want To Live In How Positive Psychology Can Build a Brighter Future (Routledge March, 2021). This book is about hope and a call to action to make the world the kind of place we want to live in and aims to provoke conversation, and gently challenge possibly long-held views, beliefs, and ideologies about the way the world works and the people in that world. It explores the science-derived principles that underpin living well, and gives examples of how this can be achieved not just across the domains and span of our own lives, but across communities and the planet we share. Vanessa co-authored the Introduction and Conclusion, with eminent researcher Professor Felicia Huppert, and is the author of the chapter on Work and the Workplace.
Speaking & writing
She regularly invited to speak and run workshops for national and international business and general public audiences including: two TEDx talks and a Guardian Masterclass; UK House of Lords, London Business Forum, How the Light Gets In; numerous Business, Education & Health sector conferences; London Literary Festival; Margate Bookie; Mindfulness in Schools; Education for the Soul, Perkbox, Southbank Festival of Love, Wilderness Festival, Interrogate Dartington, The Global Symposium of Social Connectedness, Wellbeing360 (Global), Flourish 2020, as well as large scale events for AfH. Vanessa has been invited to speak and contribute at many international events including in: Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Iceland, Netherlands, Malaysia, Mexico, Romania, Singapore, Turkey, UAE and the US.
Her work has been featured or quoted in the The Guardian, Sunday Telegraph, Financial Times, Sunday Express, The Mail, Huffington Post, amongst many other mainstream publications; BBC Radio (including the Today Programme, You & Yours, Woman’s Hour and numerous BBC regional radio shows) and advised on TV features for the BBC, ITV and Sky. She has been a regular column in Psychologies magazine in the UK and quoted in numerous other magazines including: UK Vogue, Italian Vogue, Red, Good Housekeeping, Country Living, Big Issue, Balance, Runners World and Success.
Design, creativity and wellbeing
Vanessa has an interest in the intersection of wellbeing science and design. She believes a greater understanding of the science of wellbeing can enable design for good. She has guest lectured and tutored on the topic at a number of leading design schools: TU Delft, RCA and Ravensbourne as well as Birmingham City University School of Architecture.
She has designed and led workshops on enhancing creativity amongst ‘non-creative’ functions in organisations and is currently developing new ones on exploring creativity using the psychology of wellbeing and enhancing wellbeing through creativity. She has trained in Service Design/Design Thinking. With writer Elise Valmorbida she developed a series of workshops on the application of positive psychology to creative writing to enhance the quality and creativity of the practice and the resilience of the writer! Together they ran a week long retreat at Arvon an internationally recognised home of creative writing. Vanessa is also a trustee of Margate Bookie – ‘the friendly literature festival by the sea’.
Background
Professionally Vanessa is an experienced leadership, talent and organisational development facilitator and has worked with a wide range of organisations around the world. She has led the design and implementation of a wide range of workshops and programmes focused on building wellbeing, resilience and innovation skills and developing talent. These include: The 10 Keys for Happier Living course for individuals in community, public health and education settings; the ‘Doing Well from the Inside Out’ programme for managers, leaders and teams in workplaces; the Mindful Leadership programme for executive teams and leaders; and most recently piloting a Happier Living movement at a leading technology company, as well as many bespoke programmes for leadership and talent development.
Prior to consulting Vanessa qualified as a chartered accountant, working at Arthur Andersen and PWC where she became a business analyst, which fuelled her interest in the potential of people and organisations and led her to move into HR with two global banks, Morgan Stanley and Bankers Trust and then to global consultancy Towers Perrin (now Willis Towers Watson). In addition to her Masters and ACA, she has a BSc (Joint Hons) in Psychology and Zoology.
Interests
Vanessa especially loves food, cooking with or for friends, design, films, books, being outside in nature, travel and yoga. She lives in London and likes to be by the sea as often as she can!
Read more
Read less
