Pat Armitstead
RGN, Dip Ed, Dip FTM, Myers Briggs, Peter Drucker Management, Conflict Resolution
Free
Inspiring HOPE, Liberating COMPASSION, Evoking JOY Expert
Pat Armitstead Quick Facts
- Main Areas
- Humourand joy in business and life, Positive Psychology, NLP
- Best Sellers
- Humour Works
- Career Focus
- Speaker, Facilitator, Coach, Author, Radio Producer and Anchor
- Affiliation
- Past President National Speakers Association NZ, Member Professional Speakers NZ, Past Vice Chair Sales and Marketing Institute NZ, Member International Humour Foundation, Member Australian Centre on Quality of Life, Trustee Centre for Compassion NZ
Pat Armitstead, New Zealand’s leader in the Science of Positive Psychology and Humour in the Workplace has a CV that’s not to be laughed at! Included in her giggliography are some ground breaking achievements, testimony to her ability to successfully combine her business acumen, creativity, and wit.
Initially a Registered Nurse, she has worked for 35 years in Education Management and Communication roles in the health sector and in business. In 1989 she founded her own Advertising Agency, winning 11 awards including the NSW Tourism Award, Media Section and an award from Cacharel in Paris.
She has presented over 12,000 hours of keynotes, workshops, seminars and lectures reaching an astounding 55,000 people throughout Australasia. She has toured internationally with Patch Adams, shared the platform with world class speakers such as Ed Tate, Annette King, Catherine Palin Brinkworth, George Manolis, Wayne Berry, Keith Abraham and Wayne Mansfield from Australia, Linda Miles, Lavonn Steiner from the USA and recently presented to the first International Humour and Wellness conference at Armidale University in Australia.
She was President of the National Speakers Association NZ 2001, The Most Awarded Speaker at the 2000 NSANZ Convention and 2002 NZ Speaker of the Year. She has convened two International Conventions for the National Speakers Association of New Zealand. She has also reared a wombat!
Pat draws on her business and education acumen, humour, improv acting, and positive psychology to transform lives. support people to perform to optimum. Her clients in NZ include Kensington Swan, Baldwins, Coca Cola Amatil, NZ Pharmacists, Yellow Pages, School Executive Officers, Assoc of Administrative Professionals, NZ Property Institute, Royal Australasian Society of Paediatricians, Fairfax ltd, The Diversional Therapists Association, Child Heart Foundation, Bayleys Real Estate, Fertility NZ, Martin Personnel, Fairfax Ltd, Epiphany, National OSH Society, Arthritis Foundation, Professionals Real Estate, Mercy Hospice, Carich NZ, University of Auckland, IAL, The Mental Health Association Workforce, and Lupus Trust.
She has had regular columns in Auckland newspapers and has appeared on Radio and National Television and been featured in many magazines.
She now has her own Award Winning Radio program RadioImprov - Joy in the Moment available as a download each week on ( NZ ) Planet FM 104.6 www.planetaudio.org.nz/radioimprov
She is the author of “Humour Works” and has 3 other books in progress. Pat is also featured in Chris Dodds book “Silver Lining on the Long White Cloud” and “Woman 2 Woman” by Amanda Ellis and June McCabe.
She presents annual programs to Auckland University and directed for 3 consecutive year New Zealands Humour in Business Awards.
Pat Armitstead Books
Articles by this expert
SelfGrowth articles and saved writing connected to this expert.
Article
Restructuring, Redundancy and Serious Fun
What on earth has redundancy got to do with pyjamas? And more importantly, how can the notion serve your business operation ? Well, let me explain. With the advent of the industrial revolution came radical change which continues today. Business’s are restructuring, and with that, the job you had 3 weeks ago…is gone ! Any of you who have been through that process will know of the shock and the isolation. Any of you who have had to orchestrate it will know how difficult it is for everybody on staff.
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Article
Water does not worry!
Water does not worry about how it will take the shape of the glass into which it is being poured! Yet as humans we can be caught up in worry and anxiety over what might happen. In order to survive and thrive we need to be in what I call inspired action. To achieve that space we need to have factored in some down time that allows for reflection and relaxation. When we consistently do that, the mind can much more readily summon forth inspired ideas and thoughts, that when acted on bring great results.
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Article
5 Joyous Habits
Five Joyous Habits Human beings are moral animals. According to Dr Martin Seligman we each exhibit six virtues common across cultures and traditions. They are wisdom and knowledge, courage, love and humanity, justice, temperance, spirituality and transcendence. These virtues encapsulate the notion of good character. The way in which we each achieve the virtues is dependent on our individual strengths of character. Using our strengths produces good consequences and positive emotion, not only in yourself but in those around you who witness the display of a strength.
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Article
How May I Prosper You?
Max Lerner says, "I am neither an optimist nor a pessimist. I am a possibilitist." If you agree with our learned friend Max Lerner then you can adopt a mindset that says “I can make it happen…or nothing is impossible”. We are well into 2005 now and often held back by our state of mind. Fear and anxiety keep us in a constant state of planning and preparation and what we need to do is engage the “forward” button and go with what we have.
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Article
Australians have winning ways
‘You don’t have to play sport to be an Australian, but you do have to have a sense of humour” says author Pete Crofts in his book How to use Humour in Business and Life. As an Australian I know they have many “winning ways” and I believe this is strongly linked to their good humoured view of the world. Is there a formula they and others use to aid their success ? Four of the so called “formulas for good humour” include exaggeration, understatement, saying the opposite, and unexpected punch lines.
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Favorite Quotes & Thoughts from Pat Armitstead
“ We swing between grief and joy most of our lives
as we respond to and deal with the life events that ultimately shape us.
The trigger for hope as we move through those times that test us, is laughter . ”
" You can't lift your bottom line if your people are down"
"Catch people doing something right"
Contacting Pat Armitstead
Pat Armitstead
Worlds First Joyologist
Joyology - Department of Humour Resources
649 4283836
021 697635
skype joyologist1
How to get started
A series of losses resulted in my becoming quite depressed. I lost my home and business twice, had cancer, lost my first child, have a sister with Aids for 23 years, had ten car accidents...none my fault honest!!.....and then my partner left.
I plummeted. But....I opted for ANTIZAC rather tha Prozac .....you can get some info on that as well! The rest was the journey to now which is summarised below.
"In October 2001 Pat attended a grieving seminar put on by Starship Childrens Hospital in Auckland. The speaker was a doctor who had worked for some years with Dr Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, and was here in New Zealand to support grieving parents and help them develop their own grief support networks. On that night Pat sat next to a man whose grief touched her deeply. “ His grief was a physically palpable thing” she said and she approached him at the end of the session and asked him about his loss. He was the father of a 14 year old boy who had died as the result of a fall in the Auckland IMAX cinema and the family were still locked in that early grief and anguish.
On the same night Pat received an email from a magician in South Australia who invited her to establish laughter clubs in New Zealand. She rang him and subsequently laughed for a good half hour and as the conversation proceeded. During that conversation she knew she had to “marry the two”, joy and grief, with laughter being the trigger to move people out of grief ( even if only for a moment) and provide hope .
She conducted an initial 12 week pilot program at the A Maree rest home who are now New Zealands first accredited laughter club facility. Part of the program required laughter Police TM to attend and check the principles of the program were being applied …. She reports happily that very few Laughter Infringement Notices TM had to be issued ! A second pilot was conducted over an 18 month period using other concepts.
Copies of the report on this are available and a book is in process of completion.
Since that time Pat has conducted over 600 Humour and Positive Psychology programs, principally into businesses throughout New Zealand and Australia."
She has personally transformed the lives of over 5000 people supporting them through adversity