Live with Purpose. Live with Movement and Presence. Live with Playfulness.
Dr. Hannah Macdougall is an elite Paralympian with over 25 years of experience in cycling, swimming, and triathlon. She has won medals across multiple disciplines, including a bronze at the 2004 Athens Paralympic Games, golds at the UCI Para Cycling Road World Cups, and recent podium finishes at the World Para Triathlon Series. As a team captain for the Australian Paralympic Swim Team at the 2008 Beijing Games, her leadership shone through.
Beyond sport, Hannah holds a PhD in Athlete Well-being and is a respected advocate for mental health, inclusion, and resilience. She works as a player development practitioner with the Melbourne Football Club and has led community resilience programs at the Victorian State Emergency Service. Hannah’s presentations blend her athletic achievements, humour, and well-being insights, empowering audiences to thrive under pressure.
Hannah’s journey is recognised in various ways, including the naming of the Hannah Macdougall Swimming Pool at Korowa Anglican Girls' School, and she serves as an ambassador for Legenda Cycling and Australia Pumpkin Seed Farm. A lover of mindfulness, breathwork, and saunas, she brings purpose, movement, and play to all aspects of life.
Talking Points
Beyond Resilience: Building a Life of Well-Being, Play, and Curiousity
In today’s high-pressure world, resilience alone isn’t enough. This keynote dives into the science and art of well-being, exploring how playfulness, curiosity, and gratitude can be powerful tools for coping with life’s challenges. By sharing her journey as an elite athlete, well-being pracademic and researcher, Dr Han offers relatable, humorous insights into why and how to strengthen mental flexibility and nurture a more fulfilling life.Beyond Resilience: Building a Life of Well-Being, Play, and Curiousity
Key Takeaways:
• Actionable practices for sustainable resilience via a playful and curious mindset
• Strategies to cultivate gratitude, connection, and self-compassion
• Tangible steps for shifting from survival mode and overwhelm to a state of genuine well-being
Finding Strength in Transition: Navigating Life Changes with Purpose and Presence
Change, whether chosen or unexpected, is often daunting. This keynote focuses on using purposeful action and presence to move through transitions, including career shifts, personal loss, and major life changes. Through Dr Han's unique perspective as an elite athlete and well-being scientist, attendees learn how to develop clarity, adapt with confidence, and grow through each stage of change.Finding Strength in Transition: Navigating Life Changes with Purpose and Presence
Key Takeaways:
• Techniques to harness mindfulness and breathwork for navigating transitions
• Tools for clarifying purpose and building a forward-focused mindset
• Insights on how to turn challenges, ‘failures’, into opportunities for growth and learning
• ‘Keep it simple' strategies for acceptance, kindness, and trust
Mastering the Art of High Performance: Insights from a Previous Perfectionist who has the weight of the “Hannah Macdoguall Swimming Pool’ on her shoulders…
What drives elite performance? This keynote combines science-backed strategies and Dr Han's personal stories from Paralympic sport to guide audiences toward excellence and thriving. With a focus on holistic well-being, audience members learn how to navigate stress, cultivate self and community leadership, and stay grounded in high-stakes environments.Mastering the Art of High Performance: Insights from a Previous Perfectionist who has the weight of the “Hannah Macdoguall Swimming Pool’ on her shoulders…
Key Takeaways:
• Evidence-based strategies for enhancing mental, emotional, and physical performance
• Practical tools for managing stress and staying focused under pressure
• Techniques for combing well-being and high performance
Breath, Belonging, and Mindfulness: Tools for Thriving Under Pressure
In a fast-paced world, learning to pause is one of the most powerful skills we can develop. In this engaging keynote, Hannah introduces the art of breathwork and mindfulness as a means to handle life’s pressures. By drawing on her experience from elite sport, lived experience of disability and mental health challenges, Dr Han shares accessible techniques that help bring calm, focus, and clarity to being human, regardless of your situation.Breath, Belonging, and Mindfulness: Tools for Thriving Under Pressure
Key Takeaways:
• Simple breathwork exercises to bring calm and clarity to daily life
• Mindfulness tools to build resilience and improve mental well-being
• Tips for creating well-being habits that fosters presence and focus
Love and Grief - Two Sides of the Same Coin: Embracing the Full Spectrum of Life
Love and grief are deeply intertwined, reminding us of our shared humanity. Through personal stories of loss, including the passing of my parents and navigating the disappointment of non-selection in multiple Paralympic teams, this keynote invites audiences to view grief as a natural, even necessary, part of the human experience. By embracing the full spectrum of life’s highs and lows, we can learn to practice self-kindness and ask for support when we need it most. This isn’t about ‘overcoming’ grief but understanding it as an integral part of what makes us whole and human.Love and Grief - Two Sides of the Same Coin: Embracing the Full Spectrum of Life
Key Takeaways:
• Practical tools to navigate grief with self-compassion, patience, and kindness, understanding it as part of the human experience rather than something to “fix” or rush.
• Insights into the skill of asking for help, how to lean into vulnerability, and connecting with others on similar journeys.
• A reframed perspective on grief and loss
MC & Host
Dr Han brings a relatable, “amplified” energy to her role as an MC, blending warmth, wit, and a touch of amputee humour to create genuine connections with audiences. Known for her down-to-earth approach, Hannah keeps the focus on making everyone feel comfortable, ensuring speakers and attendees feel equally welcome and inspired. Drawing from her background in elite sport, mindfulness, and well-being, she brings insight and humour that resonate, keeping the experience engaging and grounded. Thoughtful and thoroughly prepared, Dr Han guides each event to flow naturally, spotlighting the moments and voices that matter most, enabling a focus on meaningful connection and sense of belonging.
MC & Host
Video
How Dr Hannah Macdougall found new life in her prosthetic leg | ABC Melbourne
Dr Hannah Macdougall was born without a right leg. But her prosthetic leg, which she calls Julius Caesar has led her to adventure, play, and Paralympic glory. Hannah was one of six speakers who braved the crowd at the Melbourne Writer’s Festival for ABC Radio Melbourne’s Homespun.Hannah was an inspirational speaker at our event Celebrating Calisthenics – humble, witty and incredibly engaging l could have listened to her all night. Her messages around inclusion were p ... keep reading Calisthenics Victoria
Hannah was a fantastic and inspiring guest speaker for us at an event on Innovation in the Disability Sector. She spoke in a passionate and well informed manner, and gave the audience plenty to think about from a sector and policy point of view, as well as from personal experience.
Your story and your presentation were very inspiring! It’s wonderful that you are teaching young people (and oldies like me) about mindfulness. I really felt that your sharing of how long it took to transition to cycling and then succeeding in terms of winning medals, was very powerful. It helps give people a sense of how long developing profound expertise takes.
