Andy Skidmore 6th World Congress on Positive Psychology 2019

Andy Skidmore

Andy is a life long social entrepreneur and is passionate about equipping young people to grow as leaders by taking a wellbeing approach and fostering positive and meaningful relationships. When he was 21 he founded the Not For Profit organisation Burn Bright, a social enterprise with the mission of growing the next generation of young Australians through student leadership, wellbeing programs and national camps. Over the past 10 years Burn Bright has worked with over 100,000, 12-17 year olds, from all corners of Australia and New Zealand through school based programs and hosting the Australian National Leadership Camp. Burn Bright are student leadership and wellbeing specialists who work with students in a collaborative, fun and inclusive team culture. This brings about positive behavioural change, a shift in mindset and personal wellbeing, allowing students to make informed choices and decisions. Burn Bright’s programs are focused on demonstrating how students can turn theory into action by practicing and road testing skills learnt before applying them in their own lives. Burn Bright has a team of 32 staff and over 100 volunteers. Burn Bright’s programs are based on embedding and living out the concepts of positive psychology and are informed by the science of wellbeing. In 2018 and 2019 Burn Bright was named Australia’s Most Innovative Charity by Westpac and UNSW, due to their company culture and their social enterprise business structure. Burn Bright has also won awards for their outstanding use of data and have been recognised by Anthill as one of 100 ‘Cool Australian Companies’ in 2018. Andy is regarded as one of Australia’s leading social entrepreneurs and innovative thinkers to solve some of Australia’s most complex social issues. Andy graduated from Macquarie University with a Bachelor of Arts – Media. He has studied Social Entrepreneurship at Stanford University in the USA and has completed his Masters in Coaching Psychology at Sydney University. Completing an honours thesis entitled The devil is in the detail. Why cognitive and affective antecedents matter in wellbeing outcomes associated with prosocial behaviour. A study of approach and avoidant goal cognitive antecedents for prosocial behaviour and their impacts on wellbeing and engagement.