Psychologist · Keynote speaker

Calm is a skill you can teach.

Dr. Maya Ellison helps organisations prevent burnout with warm, funny, science-backed talks, and tools people actually use on Monday morning.

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Dr. Maya Ellison speaking with a microphone
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Why teams book Maya

People leave lighter than they arrived.

0+keynotes and workshops delivered
0countries, in person and virtual
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0years in clinical practice before the stage
What your team won't say out loud

Every team carries thoughts like these.

Maya gives people simple, evidence-based ways to catch a spiralling thought, question it, and choose a kinder, more useful one. Try it on the thought in her hand.

1 of 5
Reframed

If I log off at six, they'll think I don't care.

Maya thinking, one hand raised as if holding a thought
Keynotes & workshops

Three talks. One goal: a calmer Monday.

Every session is tailored to your people and your industry, and every one ends with tools your team can use the same day.

KeynoteWorkshop
01

Calm Is a Skill

Burnout prevention for teams who are tired of being tired.

  • The 90-second reset that works anywhere
  • Four early-warning signs of burnout
  • One team ritual to start on Monday

Best for: all-hands, wellbeing weeks, conferences

  1. Why "just push through" stops working
  2. Your stress curve, and how to read it
  3. Live practice: the 90-second reset
  4. Building recovery into the working week
LeadersOffsites
02

The Exhale Effect

For leaders: how to lower the temperature of any room.

  • Regulate yourself before you lead others
  • Meetings that don't drain people
  • Spot struggle early and respond well

Best for: leadership offsites, manager programmes

  1. Why stress spreads faster than strategy
  2. The leader's nervous system, explained simply
  3. Scripts for the hard check-in conversation
  4. Designing a team rhythm that protects energy
KeynoteVirtual
03

Brave Conversations

Mental health at work, from stigma to support.

  • Language that opens doors, not shuts them
  • What to say, and what not to say
  • Clear routes to professional help

Best for: HR & people teams, Mental Health Awareness Week

  1. The cost of staying quiet
  2. How to ask "how are you, really?"
  3. Listening without fixing
  4. Signposting: when and how to refer
60-second team check

Is your team running on empty?

Five quick questions. You'll get a score, what it means, and which talk would help most.

Question 1 of 5

Running warm

Your team is running warm.

Maya recommendsCalm Is a Skill

This quick check is a conversation starter, not a clinical assessment.

The Exhale Method

Four steps your people will actually use.

No toxic positivity. No "just do yoga". A clear, practical method built from fifteen years of clinical work.

1
Step 01 of 04Pause: a reset you can do anywhere.
01

Pause

A 90-second reset that works in a meeting, on a train, or before a hard email.

Try it nowBreathe in for 4, out for 6. Three rounds. Notice your shoulders drop.
02

Name

Name it to tame it. Teams learn a shared, plain-language way to say how they're really doing.

Try it nowSwap "I'm fine" for a number from 1 to 5 at your next check-in.
03

Reframe

Catch the thought, question it, and choose a kinder, more useful one.

Try it nowAsk yourself: "What would I tell a friend who said this?"
04

Restore

Recovery is planned, not earned. Small rituals and team norms that protect energy.

Try it nowBlock one 25-minute "no-meeting" window this week, and defend it.
"Burnout isn't a personal failing. It's a design problem, and design problems can be fixed."
Maya, on stage at a leadership summit
Maya Ellison speaking on stage
Meet Maya

A psychologist who speaks human.

Maya spent fifteen years in clinical practice before taking her work to the stage. Today she speaks to more than 30,000 people a year, from engineering teams and hospital staff to boardrooms, about stress, burnout and building workplaces where people can do great work without breaking.

Her talks are warm, funny and grounded in evidence. Audiences laugh, breathe, and leave with tools they use the next day.

  • PsyD, Clinical PsychologyLicensed psychologist
  • Author, The Exhale EffectOn calm, work and recovery
  • Workplace mental healthAccredited trainer
  • Virtual & in personBased in London, travels worldwide
Kind words

What people say after.

"Two weeks after Maya's keynote, our managers were still using the 90-second reset in stand-ups. Nobody remembers a keynote two weeks later. They remember hers."
SRSophie R.Head of People, global payments company
"She made a room of 900 engineers comfortable talking about burnout. I honestly didn't think that was possible."
DKDaniel K.VP Engineering, enterprise software
"Warm, funny and deeply evidence-based. The highest-rated session of our entire wellbeing week."
AMAisha M.Wellbeing Lead, healthcare provider
"Our sales team asked for her back. Our sales team. That has never happened before."
TOTom O.Sales Director, retail group
Free for managers

The 5-Minute Team Reset.

The same tools Maya teaches on stage, in a short guide you can use at your next team meeting.

  • 1Five check-in scripts for real conversations
  • 2A burnout early-warning checklist
  • 3The 90-second reset card
  • 4A meeting-norms template your team will keep

It's on its way. Take a breath: you've done something good for your team today.

Speaking enquiries

Bring calm to your next event.

Tell us a little about your event. Maya's team replies within one working day.

Audience size
200–500
Format
Topics

Thank you. Breathe out.

Your enquiry is with Maya's team. You'll hear back within one working day.

  • 1We reply with dates and options
  • 2A 20-minute call to understand your people
  • 3A talk tailored to your event
What happens next
  1. 1We reply within one working day
  2. 2A 20-minute call about your people
  3. 3A talk tailored to your event
Maya laughing with a microphone