Dr. Jo Prendergast

In high-pressure environments, burnout isn't caused by a lack of resilience. It's driven by behaviours we've been taught to see as strengths. We celebrate staying positive no matter what. We admire the people who "just get on with it." We push through, ignoring what our bodies are telling us. But these forms of everyday heroics come at a cost. This keynote challenges the hidden norms that quietly drive burnout in individuals, teams, and organisations, and reframes resilience: not as pushing through, but as processing through.

Key takeaways

✓      Recognise how "heroic" behaviours like constant positivity and coping alone can unintentionally contribute to burnout

✓      Understand why people who appear to be coping best may be the ones most at risk, and how to respond differently

✓      Learn a simple, practical way to regulate your own stress and reduce its impact on those around you

Best for: Leaders and teams in high-pressure, high-responsibility environments who want to build sustainable performance and protect their people from burnout

Format: Keynote

Leaders are increasingly expected to support mental health at work, but many of the challenges are already visible in everyday interactions and simply not recognised for what they are. This keynote helps leaders see what's underneath the behaviour they observe: a challenging team member, a high performer carrying more than they show, someone who has quietly changed or withdrawn. Without being prescriptive or clinical, it introduces the 5Ps (Prevent, Protect, Promote, Provide, Prepare) as a simple, human way to respond with greater awareness and confidence. This isn't about becoming an expert in mental health. It's about learning to notice what's already there and responding in ways that make a meaningful difference.

Key takeaways

✓      Recognise how mental health challenges show up in everyday workplace behaviour, performance, and team dynamics

✓      Build confidence in noticing and responding to situations that may indicate someone is struggling, from early signs to more serious concerns

✓      Leave with a simple, practical way of thinking about mental health at work (the 5Ps) that supports more thoughtful, human leadership

Best for: Senior leaders, executives, and managers responsible for leading teams and shaping workplace culture

Format: Keynote or 2-hour workshop

As artificial intelligence reshapes how work gets done, the skills that define high performance are rapidly changing. Tasks that once required strong literacy, memory, and linear processing can now be augmented or replaced by AI. So what becomes valuable next? This keynote challenges organisations to rethink traditional definitions of talent and reconsider who they're selecting, developing, and promoting. It explores how neurodivergent ways of thinking, such as pattern recognition, creative problem-solving, and strategic innovation, may represent a critical and often overlooked competitive advantage. The session invites leaders to ask whether their current systems are screening out the very people who could help them thrive in an AI-enabled world.

Key takeaways

✓      Understand how AI is shifting the definition of valuable workplace skills, and why traditional measures of talent may be outdated

✓      Recognise the strengths commonly associated with neurodivergent thinking and how these can drive innovation and strategic advantage

✓      Identify practical ways to rethink hiring, development, and workplace design to better attract, support, and leverage diverse cognitive styles

Best for: Senior leaders, executives, HR and people & culture teams, and organisations seeking to future-proof their workforce

Format: Keynote, with optional extension to workshop or leadership session

Modern life asks people, especially women, to be too many things at once, and to do it all with a smile. Dr Jo Prendergast is #coping is a tightly written, joke-dense comedy keynote about the cost of that pressure. The parenting, the working, the caring, the smiling. What happens when 'coping' becomes the whole personality. Drawing on 30 years of psychiatric practice and her own midlife experience, Dr Jo turns the universal exhaustion of modern life into something funny, recognisable, and quietly useful. Audiences leave entertained, seen, and with a sharper eye for the warning signs of burnout in themselves and the people around them.

Why audiences love it

✓ A laugh-a-minute comedy keynote from an award-winning comedian, delivered with the clinical insight of a 30-year psychiatrist

✓ A relatable, recognisable take on the cost of high-functioning coping, particularly for women juggling work, family and care

✓ Substance underneath the comedy: practical noticing of the early signs of burnout, in yourself and in the people around you

Best for: Closing keynote, conference dinner, gala function, social slot, awards night, or any conference moment where the audience has earned the right to laugh and the booker wants them to leave entertained and slightly lifted, with something thoughtful to take away