The People

Karen Clarke – Author

SAMSUNGKaren Clarke is the author of ‘From Bullied to Brilliant’, Director of ‘Simply for Success Pty Ltd’, an NLP trainer, speaker and performance coach specialising in dominance-based relationships. Karen also works part-time as a life-coach with ‘Family Connections’ in Nambour to help adults, children, and families develop strategies to engender better communication skills and improve social/emotional wellbeing.

She is also a passionate children’s advocate in her role as Ambassador for ‘For Kids Sake’ and regularly travels with them to Parliament in Canberra to petition for changes to the family law system.

Karen’s deep understanding of bullying and social isolation comes from her insight as a coach along with profound personal experiences of bullying as a child, a teenage expatriate in francophone West Africa and as an adult. Karen delivers presentations to schools, businesses and groups and works regularly with the Brisbane Broncos student wellbeing program. Karen has delivered workshops, presentations, training and coaching in Australia, Singapore and France and has developed a professional coaching program to help educators better manage and support students with social/emotional difficulties in schools.

Karen helps adults, students and educators understand how a simple shift in thinking can be the key to overcoming many of life’s challenges. The world is full of questions, perhaps our answers lie within.

Author Interview

 

Karen is available to speak at conferences and events – find out more here.

Foreword by Dr. Arun Gandhi

Dr. Arun Gandhi is the President of the Gandhi Worldwide Education Institute, USA and leader of the Gandhi Legacy Tour of India. Born in 1934 in Durban, South Africa, Arun is the fifth grandson of India’s legendary leader, Mohandas K. “Mahatma” Gandhi. Growing up under the discriminatory apartheid laws of South Africa, he was beaten by “white” South Africans for being too black and “black” South Africans for being too white; so, Arun sought eye-for-an-eye justice. However, he learned from his parents and grandparents that justice does not mean revenge, it means transforming the opponent through love and suffering.

Grandfather taught Arun to understand nonviolence through understanding violence. “If we know how much passive violence we perpetrate against one another we will understand why there is so much physical violence plaguing societies and the world,” Gandhi said. Through daily lessons, Arun says, he learned about violence and about anger.

Arun shares these lessons all around the world. For the past five years, he has participated in the Renaissance Weekend deliberations with President Clinton and other well-respected Rhodes Scholars. In recent years his engagements included speaking at the Chicago Children’s Museum and the Women’s Justice Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He also delivered talks at the Young President’s Organization in Mexico, the Trade Union Leaders’ Meeting in Milan, Italy, as well as the Peace and Justice Center in St. Louis, Missouri. Sometimes, his journeys take him even further. Arun has spoken in Croatia, France, Ireland, Holland, Lithuania, Nicaragua, China, Scotland and Japan.

Dr. Gandhi has worked closely with Christian priests and his philosophies are strongly influenced by Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and Christian concepts. Like his grandfather, he also believes in the concept of ‘non-violence’ (Ahinsa). In 2003 he was one of the signatories to Humanism and Its Aspirations (Humanist Manifesto III).

Find out more about Dr. Arun Gandhi at www.gandhiforchildren.org and www.gandhitour.info

Ed Francis – Guest Contributor

Ed Francis - Guest Contributor - PhotoEd Francis graduated from the Austin Graduate School of Theology, Austin, Texas, USA.  After years of marching in high school bands, competing in the Jr. Drum Corps, touring with the USAF World Wide Talent Contests and performing in local bands, Mr. Francis decided to bring his passion for percussion into the heart of his community where he began teaching as a drum coach at Round Rock Drums and also co-founded Rhythm Workshops. The latter being a non-profit dedicated to bringing musical experiences into the community, at no cost to the children – focusing on groups of people who have little access to making music.

Mr. Francis never forgot how music and drumming helped him to work through the pain of growing up in an abusive and dysfunctional home environment. The scars may have run deep, but the power of having a positive outlet helped to build his self-confidence and slowly release the otherwise debilitating anxieties building up in the young man.  While working with Rhythm Workshops Mr. Francis relates his experiences to young people everywhere.  He can be contacted at drummerboyed@gmail.com.

Ed’s deeply personal story and his transition ‘From Bullied To Brilliant’ can be found in the book or listen to the audio below.

Find out more about Ed, his team and some of the marvelous things they get up to here:

Round Rock Drums website: http://roundrockdrums.com
“What It Means To Be A Drummer”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loG0m11iCwQ
“Dress Rehearsal For America’s Got Talent”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAQetoFmMYs
“What’s Round Rock Drums?”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wjin8JVdzp4
“The Magic of Drumming”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O82nhwWnEAU
“Glowing Gone Wild”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNRyz1vIaCM
“Ed Francis Brings His Magic to Drum Talk TV”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCHIw5nL8yQ
“Drumming and Dancing”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-n3DjlS-Muw
“Ayden and Mr Ed play a duet”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ou2ssBlbZE
Round Rock Drums: http://impactnews.com/austin-metro/round-rock-pflugerville-hutto/round-rock-drums/

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Matthew Mitcham – Guest Contributor

Matthew Mitcham - Photo

Matthew Mitcham produced the highest scoring dive in Olympic history to win the 10-metre platform event at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. In doing so he became Australia’s first male diving gold medalist since Dick Eve in 1924. Matthew left the sport in 2006, struggling with addiction and depression, and for a time supported himself as a high diver at Sydney’s Royal Easter Show, plunging into a barrel of water. Before that he had trained for seven years with the AIS.

Matthew has also won six career silver medals at the Commonwealth Games and in 2014 took out the gold.

Matthew is an ambassador for ‘Headspace’. His autobiography ‘Twists & Turns’ depicting his journey into and out of depression can be found online and through major bookstores. www.twistsandturns.com.au

Listen here to Matthew’s story as it appears in ‘From Bullied To Brilliant’:

 

 

Michael Schwandt – Guest Contributor

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Michael Schwandt – Stage Director/Choreographer

Michael Schwandt is one of the most dynamic contributors to choreography and movement in Los Angeles. His extensive body of work can be seen across the board in television, commercials, corporate industrials, music videos and live special events, while crossing all genres of dance. As Stage Director on many projects, Michael contributes to the overall look of a project influencing style, costume, lighting, musical arrangement and set design.

Due to his his vast experience in so many genres and mediums of dance, in 2010 Michael was sought out to
help develop the format for and oversee choreography for a new dance competition show, Your Chance To Dance on CMT. As Supervising Choreographer, Michael was tasked with casting and supervising 14 on-camera choreographers, conceptualizing all 50 performances for the season while overseeing choreography, wardrobe, set and hair/makeup for each episode. Michael also caught the eye of Capitol Records music video dept., who wanted a unique way for Katy Perry to perform the forthcoming “Peacock” track from the album Teenage Dream. Michael conceptualized a fully programmable electrical light wire costume in the shape of a peacock that was originally intended for live promo performances, and was ultimately incorporated into the Teenage Dream promo tour and a televised performance of the song on CBS for David Letterman.

Michael was the first guest judge invited to be on So You Think You Can Dance Europe (Ukraine
Series) and was also a guest choreographer on the show, creating both group and duet routines for the series.

2013 took Michael Schwandt to extreme new heights as he was asked to create the massively publicized
“Let’s Move” initiative for Michelle Obama and Nike’s joint venture. Michael choreographed Michelle Obama,
Serena Williams, Colin Kaepernick, Gabby Douglas, Dominique Dawes, Bo Jackson and 6,000 kids for the
nationally televised event.

A graduate of the University of Texas Radio-TV-Film Dept, education is very important to Michael. He continues to give back to the dance community by nurturing and educating aspiring dancers via guest master classes all over the world. He was on faculty at the world-renown EDGE Performing Arts Ctr. in Hollywood for three years and is a guest faculty on the Tremaine Dance Convention and Hollywood Vibe tours where he connects with young dancers across the US, mentoring about realistic expectations in professional dance. Michael has also become a mentor and inspiring educator to thousands of dancers in Australia, having taught 8 consecutive annual workshop tours with a record 55 workshops over 21 days in 9 cities in 2012. Michael has since gone on to sponsor 7 Australian dancers for their US work visas and assisted countless others in their professional endeavors.

Find out more about Michael at www.michaelschwandt.com

Tanja Mitton – Guest Contributor

Tanja Mitton - PhotoTanja Mitton grew up in Germany and has a passion for horses and riders. She worked and trained with a number of elite German and Austrian show jumping riders before meeting her husband Richard and moving to Australia in 1995.

While building her riding coaching business, Tanja was fascinated that many riders displayed a lack of confidence and belief in their own ability. Tanja discovered a solution to this problem in her study of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP).

Now a NLP Master Coach and Practitioner, Tanja combines her unique riding instruction and NLP techniques to coach riders from Pony Club and Adult Riding to the elite level.

Tanja is the author of ‘The 7 Steps To the Mindset of An Equestrian Champion’, she also has her articles regularly published in Horse Deals Magazine, Local Horse Magazine, has been one of the Educators at Equitana in 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014 and was the guest speaker at the prestige’s Garryowen luncheon at Royal Melbourne Show.

In 2012 Tanja was invited to the Australian Institute of Sport to present to the NCAS Level 3 candidates a workshop on how to improve the mindset of Equestrian Champions.

Since 2014 Tanja is the Mindset Coach for the Australian High Performance Dressage and Para Squad as well as coaching with the NSW State Vaulting Squad. www.tanjamitton.com

 

Yvette Adams – Guest Contributor

yvetteYvette Adams is a serial entrepreneur having started 5 businesses from scratch, the first a newspaper when she was just 17, and 2 of which she has since sold.

She is the founder and owner of The Creative Collective, a creative agency helping people achieve online success through a combination of creative services, The Training Collective; a training organisation specialising in training people with digital skills, and Awardshub, an online business helping find business awards for people, and entering them into them.

A multi-award winning business woman including winning the ICT Woman of the Year at the iAwards in 2013, her latest online business is awardshub.com – an online portal for business owners wanting to find business awards they may be able to enter.

She is regularly called on as a media commentator on online and technology related topics, has been a columnist for the APN group, Marketing Magazine & Yahoo 7’s Mouths of Mums, and is a regular guest on TV & radio shows.

She published her second book, ‘No Kidding – Why our Kids Know More than Us about Technology and What We Need to Do about it’ in 2014, which you can buy online at: www.nokidding.com.au.

Alison Laverty – Guest Contributor

Alison LavertyAfter working for 20 years in Singapore Alison moved to Brisbane, one of her lifelong dreams.  She graduated from Queensland University of Technology with a Bachelor’s Degree and started a family business, Photoshow on DVD, specialising in multimedia, slideshows and video production for families and businesses. Her mission is to help people honour life by celebrating and recognising their achievements through photographic and video memories. Alison is a mother of two young children and wife to a wonderfully down to earth husband. They live a quiet life in Queensland, Australia.

Alison shares her poignant and personal story which speaks of triumph in the face of great personal pain. She is a keen campaigner on the journey to overcome bullying and is writing a book of memoirs.
www.photoshowondvd.com.au

Tracey Carmichael – Guest Contributor & Coach

Tracey Photo

Tracey Carmichael is a Wellness and Mind-Set Coach, Author of ‘Happy Mind Formula’, NLP and Timeline Therapy® Practitioner, Strategic Intervention Coach and Yoga Instructor who has 15 years experience in the wellness industry as a Natural Therapist.

Tracey coaches people out of depression and into life and is one of our Lead Coaches. She is also mother of two grown up sons and two very spoilt Matlese Shitzu dogs. Tracey loves to surf, stand up paddle board, practice yoga and connect with nature.

Her techniques are simple but powerful and within the From Bullied to Brilliant Coaching System she shares a formula she discovered to balance the body and brain chemistry together with powerful techniques to let go of negative emotions and limiting beliefs.  www.happymindstudio.com

Natalie Hennessey – Guest Contributor & Coach

Nat HennesseyNatalie Hennessey has been a special education teacher for the past 18 years, educating students with a wide range of disabilities and ages. She balances her profession as a teacher with life coaching and healing sessions and is currently studying ‘Forensic Healing’. The skills Natalie has honed from both careers allows her to coach and teach with amazing intuition and empathy.

Natalie is also a From Bullied to Brilliant® Lead Coach and an NLP and Time Line Therapy® Practitioner. Through insightful and intuitive questioning, listening, conversation, practical and simple strategies and tools, visualization, meditation and Liquid Crystal remedies, Natalie assists people to find balance, peace and motivation in their life direction and choices. www.spiritedwomensmovement.com

Partners

Karen Clarke and ‘From Bullied to Brilliant’ are Proudly associated with:

 

eMAGINE AgencyeMAGINE

eMAGINE Agency is a cutting edge independent PR and Digital Communications agency. Their focus is to facilitate platforms for game changing individuals to inspire and share their message into the corporate and public domain. The speakers have worked tirelessly to establish themselves and their brand as experts in their chosen field. eMagine have merged these individuals together on one platform to provide the ultimate international public speaking team. A combination so brilliant you can only eMAGINE. Karen is a featured ‘Inspirations’ Speaker: Karen Clarke – eMAGINE Agency

 

Australian Teacher Aide

Karen is thrilled to partner with Australian Teacher Aide in developing the unique, specialised online training for educators From Bullied to Brilliant – A Professional Coaching Program for Schools. Thlogoe program takes an innovative approach to bullying by focusing on the solution, not the problem.

Karen believes that how we approach bullying is more important than the problem itself* and applies this philosophy to show educators how they can use simple coaching techniques (that she believes we all know – but forgot we knew) to help children develop resilience and social-emotional well-being. The program will be released in 2018.

 

 

The Dream Guards

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Karen is delighted to endorse The Dream Guards as a preferred partner. Dream Guards Donna-Leigh and Michael’s Anti-Bullying Show inspires self-belief and builds resilience, arming children with empowering tools to stand up to bullying in a positive way.

Delivering their dynamic, energetic and inspiring presentation as a duo is unique and eclectic. As parents of two adolescent adults themselves, Donna-Leigh and Michael understand first-hand the true essence and the unpredictable challenge of rearing self-reliant and successful teenagers in our ever-changing complex world. With their life experiences, audiences are taken on a journey of emotional transcendence from laughter to tears and back.

 

White Jigsaw

Karen is thrilled to be collaborating with the fabulous Emma Wheat from White Jigsaw. Emma, a Coaches Training Institute Trainer, Professional Certified Coach, Author and Workshop Facilitator, is a highly skilled developer of people, facilitating the personal development and learning of individual Executives and their teams. 

Emma’s transformational coaching and facilitation grows individuals, groups, sparking innovative transformation within individuals and organisations at all levels of leadership that will continue to create vision and success in today’s global economy.

Karen and Emma are planning an Executive Leadership and Communication Retreat in the South of France.

 

Brisbane Broncos/Gympie Regional CouncilBrisbane Broncos

Karen is currently working with the Brisbane Broncos, Gympie Regional Council Gympie Regional Counciland Gympie Police presenting to primary and high school students for the ‘Building Better Communities’ and ‘Fit for Life’ programs helping students understand and overcome the challenges that life presents.

 

 

 

For Kids Sake

Karen Clarke is an official Ambassador for ‘For Kids Sake’, a non-profit organisation dedicated to protecting children and their parents from one of the most common, significant, yet least-recognised health risks they are likely to face: family separation.

 

 

 

 

LT Training

LT Training are a locally registered training organisation. LT Training delivering quality training and specialise in consulting for businesses, Strategic & Business Planning, Organisational Diagnostics and other Organisational DNA. Their Mission: Today’s training for tomorrow’s workforce.

 

 

PEMSoftPEMSoft Logo

PEMSoft, a worldwide professionally recognised app and a product of EBSCO Publishing, the largest medical publishing company in the world. Author Karen Clarke is a major contributor and her book ‘From Bullied to Brilliant’ a key reference in the PEMSoft bullying/cyber bullying topic.

 

Bully Zero Australia FoundationBully Zero Australia Foundation

The mission of Bully Zero Australia Foundation is to provide genuine and enduring care for bullying victims and their families. We exist to identify and empower bullying victims, to support and stand side by side with them, their families and friends in taking action and creating permanent positive change.
We are dedicated and committed to raising awareness of bullying and its devastating consequences through schools, workplaces and the broader community. We aim to empower young people and provide them with hands on educational strategies to prevent bullying and work with bullies and their families to help create positive behavioural changes.

 

Media Stable

media-stableMedia Stable is a vetted online directory of Australian Experts from all industries, sectors and backgrounds. It is a source of content, ideas, opinions and commentary for all media across radio, television, newspaper and online.

With an overload of content, limited financial and personnel resources the media across all mediums are under extreme pressure. Media Stable helps connect those that want to communicate with the media that is looking to connect with them.

 

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