anne riches meet anne mental health expert

Meet Anne

Anne Riches AM is an award-winning international speaker and educator on change leadership and workplace mental health. Anne develops leaders to be self-aware, model self-care and empathy, and build sustainable, productive, mentally healthy workplace cultures.

For over 30 years, Anne has worked globally with organisations as diverse as airlines, agribusiness, finance, defence, aerospace systems, multi-beverage, the professions, government departments and property development.

Some would say Anne has an impressive career and list of achievements. What many people find encouraging is that this was accomplished with a lifetime of lived experience and family history of mental health issues.

It is this real life experience together with her depth of expertise, wisdom, warmth and sense of humour that make her programs so compelling.

Anne is a Mental Health First Aid Instructor, a Black Dog Institute workplace facilitator and an RUOK? Ambassador.

She has also completed training in ASIST Suicide Prevention Skills and SafeTALK – suicide alertness training.

Anne was invested as a Member (AM) of the Order of Australia for significant service to community mental health organisations in 2022.

And on top of all that, she is a passionate scuba diver and adventurer!

The Black Dog Institute has recognised Anne at two special annual award events for her volunteering for the Black Dog Institute. She presents, trains others, and writes programs on mental health in the workplace. Anne has built a reputation for creating leadership capacity for destigmatizing mental health in the workplace and courageously shares her own lived experiences with depression and anxiety.

Can Too awarded her ‘Legend’ status for the funds she has raised for cancer research by racing in ocean swims.

Anne has been a proud RUOK? Ambassador since 2017.

anne riches mental health programs
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Anne’s audiences describe her as engaging, humorous, honest, thoughtful, courageous, dynamic yet down to earth, and able to share practical, instantly implementable tools and the latest research with her clients.

Anne holds two degrees with honours in law, and two postgraduate qualifications, one in change management. She has been awarded Fellowships from Australian Institute of Company Directors, Australian Institute of Management, Australian Human Resources Institute and the Australian institute of Training and Development.

Anne has a number of mental health qualifications including Mental Health First Aid Instructor, Disaster Mental Health Counsellor, and Applied Suicide Intervention Skills.
For a list of more qualifications see Anne LinkedIn profile

As author of a best-selling textbook on Management and Organisational Behaviour, now in its eleventh edition and used by over half a million students, I have read with great interest Anne’s innovative and thought provoking work on the neuroscience of change and The Almond Effect®. I am pleased to reference the work of Anne Riches AM in this major text as an internationally recognised leader in neuroscientific research and the management of change.
Laurie J. Mullins, Author – Management & Organisational Behaviour, Pearson Education Ltd
Anne Riches AM was ranked the best speaker with comments like “Anne Riches AM – outstanding”, “Anne Riches AM – loved her “realness”,“Great presenter – real highlight”, “An outstanding presenter, relevant, vibrant”, “Obviously excellent and readily applicable to work situations”, “Fantastic thought provoking workshop – very inspiring”, “High energy presentation – good stuff to take away”, “Invaluable information (that applies in all areas of life) presented in a fun, interactive manner”, “THE most powerful and useful session I think I have attended.”
Lyall Lukey, Convenor ELF Smartnet NZ
Anne … thank you! You knocked it out of the park!! It not only made but exceeded expectations. It was a lot of material to get into three hours but you did it … they got it … and now we have common language … plus we have a better means to communicate and deal with conscious issues.
Peter Niboli, Director, California Retail, JR Simplot Company
Thank you for another fantastic course. The course is great, and obviously meticulously planned. Through your own diverse experiences, your ability to think so quickly, your commitment to listen, understand and communicate effectively, you are able to bring issues to life. Your abilities and confidence become instilled in your participants, and as a manager, I have seen that transferred to the workplace.
Telephone Sales Manager. Call Centres, Qantas
From the personal feedback I have received, you certainly made a difference. On a personal note, I’m inspired and thankful that I had the opportunity to meet and learn from someone like you. You have no idea of the changes I have made in my life since listening to you.
Business Manager, Australian Taxation Office
Once an organisation engages you, you manage to ‘cut to the chase’ very quickly. You have an uncanny ability to engage with people (whether they want to or not!). What I am saying is, in addition to your many and varied professional qualifications, and your understanding of organisations, you really understand people and what makes them tick. You quickly win the trust of others. People feel very safe when they put themselves in your hands.
Virginia Briggs, Chief Executive Officer, MinterEllison
Anne brought a hugely impactful authentic and accessible style of presentation and conversation to the eBay Australia... Anne's unique style of connecting with participants in a caring and personable way through sharing her own experiences and knowledge on mental ill health was so wonderful. We have received so many fantastic reviews from staff who said the session deeply resonated with them and has helped them know how to start those challenging but important conversations.
Anna Gambrill, Retail Marketing Manager, eBay Australia.
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Upskill your leaders and teams

Leaders are key influencers in the mental health and wellbeing of their employees. Yet leaders are often reticent to have mental health conversations in case they ‘get it wrong’, ‘make it worse’, or simply do not know what to do or say.

Anne’s presentations address these concerns and instill leaders with the confidence, skills and competence to protect, enhance and support employee mental health.