The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion.
A testament to the power of the human spirit, Kath Koschel is a survivor who has overcome incredible odds and unimaginable tragedy to inspire ordinary people to do extraordinary things.
A former cricketer and Ironman competitor, Kath is an internationally sought-after speaker and author of the best-selling book Kindness. She partners with the biggest and most well-known companies and brands across the world to help them achieve perspective, resilience, good culture, well-being and of course, kindness. Through her company Kind GroupTM, she has built and designed programs and tools that inspire organisations and individuals to capture and understand their personal and collective strengths, allowing for bespoke workplace programs and individual coaching.
Kath’s work has been celebrated globally, most recently being named the 2025 NSW Australian of the Year and recipient of the Australia Medal for courage in overcoming extreme adversity.
Talking Points
Mental Health: Building and Sustaining Mental Fitness
What if we thought about mental health in the way that we thought about physical health? Just like physical fitness, mental fitness is pivotal to all human development, informing our performance and our mindset whilst also aiding our ability to connect with others effectively. Mental fitness underpins the foundation of a life well lived, in and out of the workplace.Mental Health: Building and Sustaining Mental Fitness
Alarming statistics now show us that mental health-related concerns are a global issue with depression, anxiety and even suicide rates rising dramatically from 2023 to 2024.
So how do we address these worrying trends that threaten to cripple the ability for humans to live happily, perform effectively and work together well?
In the Mental Health: Building and Sustaining Mental Fitness keynote, Kath unpacks what mental fitness means and how to effectively manage it with her mental health framework, backed by evidence-based strategies, including:
- Self-awareness as a foundation for growth and moving through to self-acceptance
- Growth through adversity and change – How to grow through what we go through
- Linking gratitude, humour and kindness to mental health and fitness
- How to cultivate community and conversation through connection and belonging
- How to build resilience, optimism and agility
Workplace Culture
In an age where technology is taking over, 43% employees don’t feel a sense of connection to their co-workers, 38% don’t trust their co-workers, and 22% don’t even have one friend at work. 70% of employees are disengaged from their jobs, with disengagement at a record high. Employee disconnection leads to lower productivity and lower rates of retention. Creating a workplace of belonging and kindness is proven to aid better mental health, as well as increasing profitability, productivity, high performance and retention. It’s good for your people and good for your business. Workplace Culture
Employees who experience high levels of belonging, psychological safety and kindness at work have greater resilience, well-being and personal and professional growth. They experience a 56% increase in job performance and 170% increase in employer promoter score, and better-connected employees save large organisations millions per year. Kath can also make this keynote bespoke to your workplace by working with you in the leadup to understand your specific needs and then addressing them via 4 of 12 common themes that can be addressed to better your companies culture via an evidence based framework of kindness; collaboration, compassion, empathy, gratitude, humor, humility, honesty, mindfulness, positivity, perspective, Self-acceptance and trust.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- Learn 4 ways to increase psychological safety in the workplace
- How to foster higher levels of psychological safety in your team.
- How to deepen trust and build high-value relationships with co-workers, customers, and clients.
- How to build an inclusive culture
- Bringing collaboration back post-COVID
Change Resilience
Change is a reality for all, and it comes at us in many ways. But be careful, history shows that only a small number of change strategies succeed. Your people will enable it, or obstruct it.Change Resilience
Kath knows what it takes to support change in an organisation. Having high instances of change in both her personal and professional life, Kath now helps organisations around the world to adapt to the new, pushing progress forward and into the now and future through a proven framework of gratitude, perspective and kindness.
Kath will build a bespoke offering with key and actionable takeaways for the audience to implement immediately to overcome resistance, manage the change process and land on key messages for your business.
Key Takeaways:
- Key steps to implementing change and how best to manage it
- Providing perspective to overcome resistance to the change process
- How to create and navigate opportunities in the change process
- How to bring choice to periods of change
- Adopting a resilience mindset in the face of change
Video
Kath Koschel | Showreel | Saxton Speakers
In her showreel, Kath reflects on the euphoria of realising her childhood dream of playing cricket for Australia, then reveals the shattering blows of breaking her back, paralysis, the loss of her partner, and even the threat of amputation. Yet, through pain and uncertainty, she found hope by surrounding herself with good people. She discovered that kindness isn’t soft—it’s actionable, courageous, and a form of leadership. Kath emphasises the science behind gratitude, explaining how writing down three things you’re grateful for for 21 days can literally rewire your brain. Today, she says she’s the happiest and healthiest she’s ever been—and happiness, she asserts, is a daily choice.Kath Koschel, Founder, The Kindness Factory @ PTTOW! 2018
If breaking her back on two separate occasions and learning to walk for the third time in her life wasn't enough to break her, losing her partner, the love of her life to suicide pushed her terrifyingly close to the edge. Through her astounding resilience, Kath Koschel was able to create joy out of sorrow, to become one of Australia's youngest CEO's and the founder of the global movement and not for profit organisation Kindness Factory.A standing ovation says it all. Kath is a gift to us all. What a story teller! ... keep reading Telstra
We laughed, we cried and we gave thanks. Everything was put into perspective.
The best motivational speech I’ve heard. It was a ten from start to the end.
Kath had the whole room on their feet. Kath just does it.
Kath’s presentation is the most memorable and impactful I’ve ever experienced. She is an inspiring speaker who provides both inspiration and tangible advice that can truly change the way we approach challenges in our lives.
Kath's presentation at our premier's dinner was incredibly moving and inspiring and left all those in attendance uplifted and in awe of her incredible strength. She is very relaxed and relatable. She was able to adapt and keep the audience engaged, event through a technical difficulty. She is simply remarkable.
Kath was fantastic. We had some technical difficulties with the projector the conference facility and she just ran with it until we switched rooms very professional. Her talk was amazing and a lot of people spent time chatting with her afterwards. I have also sent her website details onto all of the delegates as many asked for more information.
Kath is down to earth, kind, caring and generous. She also has an inspiring story to tell and tells it in a way that does not seek sympathy but encourages kindness. We loved having her as the keynote speaker for our dinner of 300 and would highly recommend her.
Kath has amazing integrity about her when she speaks. She has a way of connecting with those she addresses and builds rapport with the most diverse audiences. I have seen Kath in various forums and she is always the one to inspire, encourage leadership and appeal to the kindness in all of us. I cannot recommend her enough.
Kath is an amazing individual who has found the inner light and strength to push forward through tremendous adversity and difficult times. When she shares her personal story you notice that it has an impact on all those who hear it. Her story puts matters in to perspective as to what is really important and she brings light to the power of self-belief and determination. You cannot walk away without a shift in thinking; she challenges you to choose a different way to interpret the world. Kath is inspiring and we were all in awe of the person that she is.
