Victoria Maxwell

Funny You Don’t Look Crazy captures Victoria Maxwell’s experience of employment before, during and after bipolar disorder, anxiety and psychosis.

It helps people better understand mental health issues in the workplace and best practices for returning to work.

Audience members walk away enlightened and entertained, holding an expanded vision not of what’s improbable, but instead of what is possible.

The presentation includes an e-welcome to use for promotion, door prizes (usually copies of one of Victoria’s theatrical keynotes or 1 to 1 wellness strategy consultations with Victoria who is a certified peer specialist), digital resources and e-guides for you to use as you see fit as well as a choice of other value-added options.

Attendees will leave this session with:

• How to help an employee or co-worker who is struggling at work
• Ability to recognize the warning signs of mental health issues
• Experience and increased comfort in discussing mental illness and mental health in the workplace
• Powerful message that employment success after mental illness is possible
• What workplace wellness and a healthy workplace looks like
• Effective return to work strategies

Ideal for events with themes of employment, career, return to work and workplace wellness, disability and diversity.

Ideal audience: Workplace leaders, employees, managers, HR staff, diversity leaders, union stewards, union leaders, vocational rehabilitation therapists, social workers, individuals with mental health issues and their loved ones.

Crazy for Life centers on Victoria Maxwell’s personal journey to accept help for her mental illnesses and learning how to thrive.

This brave, humorous keynote takes audiences from meditation groups to psych wards, from black depressions to manic psychoses. It both educates and entertains; inspiring hope and creating empathy.

The presentation includes an e-welcome to use for promotion, door prizes (usually copies of one of Victoria’s theatrical keynotes or 1 to 1 wellness strategy consultations with Victoria who is a certified peer specialist), digital resources and e-guides for you to use as you see fit as well as a choice of other value-added options.

Attendees will leave this session with:

• Skills to comfortably discuss and address mental illness
• Clarity about signs and symptoms of depression, anxiety, psychosis and bipolar
• A list of tools that support wellness
• Reduced stigma and judgement
• Feeling inspired to take action and speak out
• An understanding of the barriers to accepting help and a mental illness diagnosis
• Ideas how to help someone accept assistance
• Key tools for mental wellness

Ideal for events with themes of anti-stigma, mental illness and recovery; self-care and wellness; psychiatry and emergency medicine; community awareness.

Ideal audience: healthcare professionals, nurses, social workers, first responders; psychiatric, hospital, and emergency ward staff; individuals with mental illness, family and friends; high school and university students and staff.

Research shows creativity, mental health, productivity and wellness are highly correlated.

This fun, highly interactive presentation gets people to step out of your comfort zone into their courage and creativity zone.

Through improv games, simple writing activities and creativity exercises, participants take away tools that enhance wellness and recovery, boosts confidence and builds resilience. Equally beneficial to the workplace, the strategies sharpen focus and presentation skills and improves problem solving and team work. No experience necessary – only willingness!

The presentation includes an e-welcome to use for promotion, door prizes (usually copies of one of Victoria’s theatrical keynotes or 1 to 1 wellness strategy consultations with Victoria who is a certified peer specialist), digital resources and e-guides for you to use as you see fit as well as a choice of other value-added options.

Participants will:

• Practice improv games that enhance active listening, healthy risk taking and creativity
• Walk away with science-based creativity exercises that promote self-care and team work; reduce stress and build mental health
• Explore timed writing activities that develop innovative thinking and cultivate empathy and respect for others
• Take away with 3 exercises that promote courage and confidence

Ideal for events with themes of mental health and wellness, workplace wellness; team building, innovation and leadership; community and corporate events.

Ideal audience: workplace leaders, employees, HR staff; union leaders and stewards; healthcare professionals, caregivers; educators, school staff; individuals with mental illness, family and friends; general public and community leaders.

How do you make time for self-care when competing priorities and pressing needs vie for your attention every day? To retain top talent, how do leaders create a meaningful workplace to engage people and help them thrive? If you struggle with mental health issues, what are the vital tools that help you recover and live a rich life? As a healthcare professional, how do you engage those you serve to be proactive in their wellness journey?

This interactive, fun presentation offers simple, sustainable solutions to optimize mental health, help reaches peak performance and creates high engagement at work and beyond.

The presentation includes an e-welcome to use for promotion, door prizes (usually copies of one of Victoria’s theatrical keynotes or 1 to 1 wellness strategy consultations with Victoria who is a certified peer specialist), digital resources and e-guides for you to use as you see fit as well as a choice of other value-added options.

Participants will:

• Define self-care and understand it as a non-negotiable
• Receive a take-away tool to implement that assesses the quality of life and results in a clear picture of imbalances, strengths and next steps to improve well-being
• Use a simple strategy to move out of the “fight, flight or freeze” stress response into the relaxation response and present moment
• Practice an exercise to quickly shift mood and energy that can be easily applied on a daily basis

Ideal for events with themes of mental health and wellness, workplace wellness, disability and diversity; or community and corporate events.

Ideal audience: workplace leaders, employees, HR staff, diversity leaders; union leaders and stewards; healthcare professionals, clinicians, nurses, social workers, individuals with mental illness, family and friends.

Combining her own ‘been there – done that’ experience of bipolar disorder, anxiety and psychosis, her successful return to work and knowledge as a mental health worker, Victoria Maxwell offers a clear overview of mental illnesses, early warning signs and the associated risk factors.

The program helps differentiate performance problems from mental health issues and provides a concise and effective framework to sensitively approach, talk and support individuals who may be dealing with mental health issues.

The presentation includes an e-welcome to use for promotion, door prizes (usually copies of one of Victoria’s theatrical keynotes or 1 to 1 wellness strategy consultations with Victoria who is a certified peer specialist), digital resources and e-guides for you to use as you see fit as well as a choice of other value-added options.

Participants will:

• Have a clear understanding of mental health, mental illness and its early warning signs
• Increase skills to help others who may be dealing with mental health issues
• Define two areas of work function impacted by mental illness
• Decrease stigma surrounding mental illness
• Practice 1 method of approaching an individual using the acclaimed O.A.R.S. framework
• Experience an increased comfort discussing mental illness + mental health

Ideal for events with themes of mental health and wellness, workplace wellness; community and corporate events.

Ideal audience: workplace leaders, employees, HR staff; union leaders and stewards; healthcare professionals; teachers, school staff; individuals with mental illness, family and friends; general public and community leaders.

Recovery is not a fad, but a reality and the paradigm shift occurring with mental health systems across the country. In order to improve outcomes, patients and clients need to be fully engaged.

Victoria Maxwell will offer solutions to adherence issues. Strategies will illustrate the importance of collaborative decision-making, alignment of treatment plans with patients’ already existing wellness tools (Dr. Pat Deegan’s Personal Medicine), exploration of internalized stigma and how these approaches aid professionals to be more effective and empower the individuals they work with.

The presentation includes an e-welcome to use for promotion, door prizes (usually copies of one of Victoria’s theatrical keynotes or 1 to 1 wellness strategy consultations with Victoria who is a certified peer specialist), digital resources and e-guides for you to use as you see fit as well as a choice of other value-added options.

Participants will:

• Identify 3 key barriers to recovery
• Take away 4 strategies that overcome barriers and improve engagement
• Explore Personal Medicine as a collaborative decision-making tool and means to improve rapport
• Practice using the Life Compass to increase the quality of life and insight
• Describe a method to explore internalized stigma
• Experience the benefits of attending to 1 life domain

Ideal for events with themes of mental health and wellness; disability and diversity; overcoming adversity, and recovery.

Ideal audience: healthcare professionals, clinicians, nurses, social workers, caregivers; healthcare organization and hospital staff; educators, school staff; individuals with mental illness, family and friends; union leaders and stewards; community leaders.